LIBRARY 


Theological  Seminary 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

BS  2505  .B48  1864 
Besser,  W.  F.  1816-1884. 
St.  Paul  the  apostle 


ST  PAUL  THE  APOSTLE. 


edinburgh  : 

printed  by  ballantyne  and  compant, 

Paul's  work. 


ST  PAUL  THE  APOSTLE 

A  BIBLICAL  POBTRAIT 


AND 


A  MIRROR  OF  THE  MANIFOLD  GRACE  OF  GOD. 


BY 

W.    F.  ^B  E  S  S  E  K,    D.  D. 


TRANSLATED  BY 

FREDERIC  BULTMANN, 

MISSIONARY  OF  THE  CHURCH  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY. 


WITH   AN   INTRODUCTORY   NOTICE    BY 

REV.  J.  S.  HOWSON,  D.D. 


NEW  YORK: 

ROBERT    CARTER    &    BROTHERS, 

No.  530  BROADWAY. 

1864. 


INTRODUCTOET  NOTICE. 


During  the  last  ten  or  twenty  years  a  very  remarkable 
attention  lias  been  given,  in  many  countries,  to  the  study 
of  the  Life  and  Personal  Character  of  St  Paul.  A  largo 
number  of  books  might  be  mentioned,  published  during 
this  period,  on  the  whole  or  on  part  of  this  subject,  in 
England  and  Germany,  Holland  and  France.  Among 
these  books,  the  small  volume  here  presented  to  tlie 
reader  deserves  to  hold  a  conspicuous  place. 

My  share  in  the  publication  of  this  translation  has  been 
limited  to  making  arrangements  with  the  publisher,  to 
correcting  the  proof-sheets,  and  giving  a  more  English 
turn  to  some  of  the  sentences  which  seemed  to  require 
it.  In  discharging  the  last  of  these  tasks,  I  have  con- 
fined myself  within  narrow  bounds,  and  most  scrupulously 
avoided  communicating  the  least  shade  of  difference  of 
meaning  to  any  single  expression.  Sometimes  I  have 
fancied  that  the  translator  did  not  exhibit  quite  exactly 


VI  INTRODUCTORY  NOTICE. 

the  author's  thought ;  but  in  such  cases  I  have  not  felt 
myself  at  liberty  (and,  indeed,  with  my  inadequate  know- 
ledge of  German,  it  would  have  been  presumptuous)  to 
make  any  changes  in  the  sense.  My  difficulty  was  further 
increased  by  the  fact  that  I  have  had  simply  the  pub- 
lished edition  of  Dr  Besser's  "  Paulus"  before  me,  where- 
as Mr  Bultmann  (as  he  says  in  his  preface)  executed  his 
translation  within  reach  of  notes  prepared  by  the  author  for 
a  second  edition  :  and  in  some  cases  I  see  that  the  variation  is 
considerable.  These  explanations  will  doubtless  be  thought 
sufficient,  if  the  whole  book  is  found  to  wear,  as  regards 
its  phraseology,  a  German  complexion,  if  some  parts  are 
rather  obscure,  and  others  contain  expressions  and  images 
which  seem  strange  to  the  English  reader.  When  an  author 
writes  somewhat  quaintly  in  his  own  language,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  preserve  this  characteristic  in  a  translation. 

My  own  work  and  responsibility  in  this  instance  hav- 
ing been  so  light,  it  seems  hardly  necessary  to  say  more. 
1  may  just  add,  however,  that  in  certain  details  I  do  not 
agree  with  the  author's  views.  Thus  I  think  very  great 
objections  lie  against  his  opinion  that  the  First  Epistle  to 
Timothy  and  the  Epistle  to  Titus  were  written  during  the 
residence  at  Ephesus,  described  in  the  nineteenth  chapter 
of  the  Acts.  All  serious  difficulties  in  regard  to  these 
epistles  vanish  if  we  retain  tlie  old  opinion,  that  the  Apostle 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTICE.  Vll 

was  liberated  from  the  Eoman  imprisonment  recorded  at 
the  end  of  that  book.     And  Dr  Besser  himseK,  in  common 
with  a  large  number  of  the  most  recent  writers,  quite 
accepts  that  well-supported  view.*  On  the  other  hand,  while 
differing  sometimes  in  circumstantial  detail,  it  is  a  great 
pleasure  to  me  to  express  my  hearty  concurrence  in  the 
general  delineation  here  given  of  the  Apostle's  character. 
Thus  (to  mention  one  point,  which  has  not  always  been 
very  distinctly  noticed  in  connexion  with  the  sequence  of 
the  events  of  St  Paul's  life)  I  see  that  Dr  Besser  has  been 
struck,  as  I  was*|-  before  reading  his  book,  with  the  pecu- 
liarly elastic  and  joyous  tone  of  the  epistles  written  during 
that  very  imprisonment,  after  a  time  of  much  depression, 
suffering,  and  trial. 

One  other  subject  calls  for  a  single  remark.  Mr  Bult- 
mann  has  thought  it  desirable  to  state  that  he  does  not 
quite  accord  with  Dr  Besser's  somewhat  '' High- Church 
views."  It  does  not  appear  to  me  necessary  to  lay  peculiar 
stress  on  this  point.     It  may  be  of  service  to  some  Eng- 

*  Some  English  Churchmen  would  not  be  satisfied  with  what  is  said 
on  Church  Order  in  the  last  chapter :  but  the  author  virtually  admits  that 
the  germ  of  Episcopacy  was  planted  in  the  missions  of  Timothy  and  Titus ; 
and  the  argument  hence  derived  is  not  touched  by  the  fact  that  the  words 
"bishop"  and  "presbyter"  are  convertible  in  Acts  xx,  17,  28,  and  Tit.  i.  5,  7. 

t  I  may  take  the  liberty  of  referring  here  to  p.  208  (second  edition)  of 
the  "  Hulsean  Lectures  for  1862  :  Five  Lectures  on  the  Character  of  St 
Paul,  by  J.  S.  Howson,  D.D." 


"Viii  INTRODUCTORY  NOTICE. 

lish  readers  to  see  how  a  German,  who  holds  the  doctrine 
of  Justification  by  Faith  in  the  purest  and  strictest  sense, 
yet  looks  on  Baptism  as  the  entrance  to  great  spiritual 
blessings,  believes  that  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  means  of 
grace  of  the  utmost  moment,  and  sets  a  high  value  on  the 
external  unity  of  the  Church.  Our  own  Ecclesiastical 
and  Sacramental  controversies  have  separated  us  from  one 
another ;  and  it  may  be  well  that  those  who  have  been  so 
divided  should  at  last  draw  more  closely  together.  Worse 
dangers  now  surround  us  than  any  which  are  connected 
with  such  disputes.  As  regards  the  Supernatural  charac- 
ter of  Christianity,  the  Eedemption  wrought  for  us  by 
Christ,  and  the  reverence  due  to  the  Holy  Scriptures,  Dr 
Besser  will  be  found  unfaltering.  His  "  Paulus "  is  a 
popular  book  as  opposed  to  a  mere  theological  treatise; 
but  it  is  evidently  based  on  a  careful,  minute,  and  pro- 
longed study  of  all  that  is  said  in  the  New  Testament  by 
St  Paul,  and  of  St  Paul ;  and  I  believe  it  will  be  found 
full  of  useful  suggestions  to  those  w^hose  duty  it  is  to 
teach  others,  as  well  as  eminently  adapted  to  build  up 
unlearned  believers  "  in  their  most  holy  faith." 

J.  S.  H. 

Liverpool,  Feb.  2,  1864. 


TO 

THE  REV.  IL  VENN,  B.D., 

PKEBENIURY  OF  ST  PAUL's,  HON.  SEC.  OF  THE  CHURCH  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY, 


m '' 


OF  THE  FIRST  GREAT  MISSIONARY 


IS, 


IN  GRATEFUL  REMEMBRANCE  OF  THE  MANY  KINDNESSES 


EXPERIENCED  DURING  A  MISSIONARY  SERVICE  OF  TWENTY-THREE  YEARS 


UNDER  THE  CPIURCH  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY, 


1?ESPECTFULLY  INSCRIBED  BY 


THE  TRANSLATOR. 


PREFACE. 


"  ExEMPLA  TEAHUNT," — "  Examples  draw."  To  a  nation  so 
fond  as  the  Englisli  of  drawing  by  example,  and  so  success- 
ful in  it,  that  their  works  of  this  description  are  admired 
and  copied  by  other  nations,  it  is  hoped  that  this  ''  Por- 
trait," drawn  by  a  fond  hand,  of  tlie  man  to  whom,  under 
God,  we  are  all  indebted  for  untold  blessings,  will  not  be 
unacceptable. 

How  this  first  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles — Saint  Paul, 
chosen  for  the  work  from  his  mother's  womb — was  called 
and  prepared  for  it  by  Divine  grace, — how  he  laboured  and 
suffered,  and  was  blessed  in  it  through  Divine  grace, — in 
short,  how  he  lived  and  died  a  monu.ment  of  God's  grace 
in  Christ  Jesus,  and  how  in  the  rich  legacy  of  his  word  and 
work  he  has  bequeathed  to  the  Church  of  all  ages  a  fund 
of  inexhaustible  blessings, — these  are  the  main  features  of 
this  biographical  sketch,  drawn  in  vivid  colours  by  the 
author's  masterly  hand. 

Among  his  "  Biblical  Portraits  "  that  of  Saint  Paul  is  by 
far  the  richest ;  nor  would  he  proceed  to  draw  it,  until — 
in  his  deservedly  popular  "  Bibelstunden,"*  ("Bible  Les- 

*  Animated  by  the  author's  encouragement  to  it,  and  having  every 
reason  to  hope  that  they  will  be  as  acceptable  to  the  English,  as  they  are 


xn  PREFACE. 

sons,"  all  of  which,  before  publication,  he  personally  de- 
livered to  his  flock,) — he  liad  gone  through  the  Acts  and 
Eomans,  in  both  which,  to  use  (with  him)  an  expression  of 
Gregory  of  Xazianzum,  he  found  "what  Paul  saith  of  Paul." 
"And  now  I  am  bold  to  say,"  he  adds,  '' that  I  come  with 
full  hands;  for  they  have  been  filled  by  the  word  of  the 
Spirit,  who  has  drawn  after  life  the  picture  of  the  wonder- 
ful man,  whom  to  draw  after  Him  has  been  my  delight." 

It  has  appeared  proper  to  the  author,  and  rightly  so, 
first,  to  complete  the  historical  picture  of  his  hero,  (Chapters 
i.-vi.,)  in  order,  in  the  last  four  Chapters,  (vii.-x.,)  to  con- 
centrate again  all  the  sparks  of  light  thus  gathered,  in  "  the 
Man  of  Faith,"  and  "of  Hope,"  and"  of  Love;"  and  then, 
finally,  to  sum  up  all  in  "  the  Man  of  the  Church."  If 
any  should  think  that  the  author's  partiality  for  this  man 
of  God  has  carried  his  praise  and  admiration  of  him  beyond 
proper  bounds,  let  him  remember  Christ's  word :  "I  am 
glorified  in  them."  It  was  in  this  light  onty — under  the 
constant  deep  sense  of  glorifying  the  Eedeemer  in  the 
redeemed — that  the  author  could  venture,  and  has  ven- 
tured, to  dip  his  pen  so  deeply  into  praise,  and  to  draw  in 
such  glowing  colours  the  picture  of  the  man  who  has  said 
of  himself,  "  By  the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am." 

One  remark,  liowever,  I  dare  not  shrink  from  making 
here.  The  author  being  one  of  those  strict  Lutherans  who. 
for  conscience'  sake,  separated  from  the  I^ational  Church  of 
Prussia,*  the  reader  will  here  and  there  meet  with — no 

fondly  cherished  by  the  German  Bible-reader,  I  shall  (D.V.)  prepare  an 
edition  of  them  for  the  English  public. 

*  By  a  Eoyal  Act  of  Uniformity,  passed  in  1830,  the  two  Protestant 
sections  of  the  National  Church-Lutheran  and  Reformed — were  fused 


PREFACE.  XUl 

Tractariau,  but — somewhat  "  High-Cliurcli  views,"  though 
"  no  higher,"  he  declares,  "  than  the  Church  herself,  the 
Bride  of  the  Lamb."  And  as  an  "  Evangelical"  Churchman 
myself,  identified — through  many  years'  service  under  it — 
with  the  principles  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society,  I 
feel  no  hesitation  in  assuring  the  "  Evangelical"  reader,  that 
he  will  not  peruse  these  pages  (nor  any  of  Dr  Besser's 
works)  without  conceiving  the  highest  regard  for  the 
author,  and,  I  may  confidently  add,  without  blessing  him 
for  the  many  precious  pearls  and  rich  thoughts  of  whole- 
some doctrine  they  contain.  Indeed,  I  am  acquainted 
with  no  writer  of  my  country  better  calculated  fo  redeem 
the  honour  of  our  German  theology,  and  take  away  much 
of  the  prejudice  so  generally  felt  against  it  by  the 
"  evangelical  party"  in  England.  For  in  no  page  of  Dr 
Besser's  pen  w^ill  they  ever  find  the  least  unsoundness  in 
doctrine,  much  less  any  taint  of  "  rationalism ;"  which,  on 
the  contrary,  at  every  fitting  occasion,  is  crushingly  handled 


into  one,  tlienceforth  called  "The  United  {Unirte)  Church  of  Prussia." 
Upon  the  introduction  of  a  modified  Liturgy  (Agetide)  to  suit  both  par- 
ties, the  author  refused  to  acknowledge  "  its  right,"  and  declined  accept- 
ing a  dispensation  from  its  use  under  condition  of  making-  that  acknow- 
ledgment. Being  tlience  removed  from  oflSce  (in  the  "  United"  Church) 
in  1847,  (which  he  had  held  since  1841,)  he  ministered  for  some  years  to 
a  Nonconformist  congregation  at  "  Seefeld,"  whence  he  was  called  to  act 
as  "Co-director  of  the  Lutheran  Missionary  Society"  at  Leipzig,  until, 
in  1857,  he  accepted,  at  great  sacrifice,  the  unanimous  call  of  a  poor 
Lutheran  cor:gregation  at  Waldenburg,  in  Silesia,  of  which  he  is  still  the 
pastor. 

In  a  recent  translation  of  his  "  Gospel  of  St  John,"  published  by  Messrs 
T.  &  T.  Clark  of  Edinburgh,  the  translator,  a  Mrs  Huxtable,  has  mistaken 
the  author  for  his  cousin,  "  Eudolph  "  Besser,  the  well-known  publisher  of 
Gotha;  an  en  or  which,  at  his  request,  I  take  this  opportunity  of  correct- 
ing.    Dr  Besser's  name  is  "  Wilhelm  Friedrich." 


XIV  PREFACE. 

by  him  with  the  weapons  and  in  the  spirit  of  his  great 
exemplar — Saint  Paul,  the  servant  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Hardly  two  years  have  elapsed  since  the  appearance  of 
Dr  Besser's  "Paulus,"'  (Leipzig,  1861,)  and  now  another 
edition  is  called  for,  with  the  notes  prepared  for  which  the 
author  has  kindly  furnished  me  for  the  present  translation. 
At  his  request,  I  have  the  pleasure  of  expressing  his  in- 
debtedness to  "  The  Life  and  Epistles  of  St  Paul,"  by  W.  J. 
Conybeare  and  J.  S.  Howson,  (London,  1853.)  Nor  can  I 
forbear  to  join  my  own  thanks,  with  those  of  the  author, 
to  the  Eev.  Dr  Howson,  Principal  of  the  Collegiate  Insti- 
tution, Liverpool,  for  his  very  kind  exertions  to  secure  a 
publisher  for  this  little  work,  which  Dr  Besser  owns  to  be 
the  *'  darling"  among  his  "literary  children."  And,  finally, 
our  joint  prayer  is,  that  many  readers  may  be  incited  by 
the  perusal  of  these  pages  to  become  the  followers  of  Paul, 
even  as  he  was  of  Christ. 

F.  BULTMANN. 


Oldenbukg,  Z^st  Oct.  1863. 


CONTEiNTS. 


I.    THE  CHOSEN  VESSEL, 
II.    THE  PHARISEE, 

III.  THE  PERSECUTOR, 

IV.  THE  WON  OF  THE  LORD  .JESUS, 
V.    THE  LABOURER,       . 

VI.    THE  PRISONER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST, 

VII.    THE  MAN  OF  FAITH, 

VII L  THE  MAN  OF  HOPE, 
IX.  THE  MAN  OF  LOVE, 
X.    THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH,. 


PAGB 

1 

14 

23 

33 

U 

71 

98 

124 

152 

184 


I. 

THE  CHOSEN  VESSEL. 

"  God  separated  me  from  my  mother's  womb,  and  called  me  by  his  grace." 
—Gal.  i.  15. 

St  Paul  laboured  more  than  all  the  aj^ostles,  but  also 
wearied  the  Lord  more  with  his  sins,  and  is  himself  a 
masterpiece  of  that  divine  grace,  the  exceeding  riches 
of  which  he  preached  and  extolled  more  than  any  of 
them.  Yea,  it  is  luliat  he  was  in  Christ  which  gives  that 
peculiar  soul- winning  attraction  to  his  preaching  of  Christ. 
Upon  the  shoulders  of  this  Israelite  of  the  tribe  of  Ben- 
jamin, ''  the  beloved  of  the  Lord,"  rests  the  loveliness  of  the 
Lord,  (Deut.  xxxiii.  12,)  viz.,  the  Church  gathered  from 
among  the  Gentiles  and  become  "the  Israel  of  God;"  and 
as  in  her  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God  is  made  known  unto 
principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly  places,  (Eph.  iii.  10,) 
so  the  manifold  lustre  of  the  grace  of  Christ  is  reflected  in 
the  instrument  He  chose  for  effecting  that  blessed  end. 
St  Paul  does  not  stand  by  the  side  of  the  twelve  apostles 
as  the  thirteenth,  but  as  the  one  to  whom,  though 
last  caUed,  the  mystery  of  the  embodying  of  the  Gentiles 
into  the  Church  of  Christ — as  ''iliQ  Israel  of  God,"  (Gal. 
vi.  16,) — was  made  known  first,  even  before  St  Peter.  And 
when  we  read  of  St  John  seeing  the  names  of  the  twelve 
apostles  of  the  Lamb  engraven  in  the  twelve  foundations  of 
the  new  Jerusalem,  (Eev.  xxi.  14,)  this  twelve-fold  splen- 
dour, we  might  almost  say,  is  reflected  in  the  one  great 


2  ST  PAUL. 

apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  wlio,  by  the  very  discharge  of  his 
high  commission — to  bring  the  Gentiles  to  the  obedience 
of  the  faith — became,  as  it  were,  a  saving  angel  also  to  his 
own  brethren  after  the  flesh,  by  inciting  them  to  emula- 
tion, as  the  last  means  of  restoring  the  remnant  of  that 
fallen  race  to  the  true  Israel  of  God,  (Kom.  ix.  27,  xi. 
o,  14.)*  Could  life-portraits  be  drawn  of  the  apostles  and 
other  eminent  servants  of  God,  St  Paul's  certainly  would 
be  one  of  the  richest,  and  would  shine  resplendent  in  a 
picture  gallery  of  biblical  characters.  Yea,  and  were  we 
to  single  out  one  of  the  many  precious  jewels  shining  in 
the  Eedeemer's  crown,  St  Paul  would  be  that  jewel,  for  in 
this  "  chosen  vessel "  the  Holy  Spirit  has  caused  to  shine 
with  special  lustre  the  image  of  Christ,  (2  Cor.  iii.  18.)  In 
him  we  hear  the  opposite  of  "  sounding  brass,"  or  "  tinkling 
cymbal,"  his  whole  character  and  life  being  the  sweetest 
melody  to  the  theme  of  his  apostolical  teaching. 

Let  us  now,  with  humble  thankfulness  to  the  Giver  of  aU 
grace,  contemplate  the  character  of  this  "  chosen  vessel," 
through  whom  Christ  has  bequeathed  to  His  Church  a  rich 
store  of  imperishable  blessings,  from  which  thousands  in 
all  ages  have  drawn  for  their  souls  treasures  of  unspeak- 
able worth ;  which,  however,  will  be  appreciated  by  us 
only  in  proportion  as  we  desire  to  become  followers  of 
him,  '^as  he  was  of  Christ." 

''By  God's  grace  I  am  what  I  am,"  says  the  apostle, 
(1  Cor.  XV.  10,)  and  therewith  looks  back  from  the  height 
of  his  apostolical  career  through  all  the  wonderful  ways 
God  had  led  him,  down  to  the  very  "  hole  of  the  pit  whence 
he  was  digged."  For  what  does  he  mean  by  God  having 
separated  and  called  him  by  His  grace  ?  Surely  he  would 
\f  not  have  us  infer  from  it,  that  God  had  done  so,  because 

*  A  further  explanation  of  this — and  especially  the  word  "  last " — the 
reader  may  expect  in  the  author's  peculiar  interpretation  of  Rom.  xi. — Tr. 


THE  CHOSEN  VESSEL.  3 

He  foresaw  what  hereafter  would  become  of  him.  No, 
God's  prescience  is  never  an  idle,  always  an  effective  know- 
ledge. "  Thou  hast  possessed  my  reins,"  prays  David ; 
"  thou  hast  covered  me  in  my  mother's  womb,"  (Ps.  cxxxix. 
13.)  So  with  regard  to  this  "  chosen  vessel " — the  Israelite 
Saul  of  Benjamin's  tribe, — God  from  his  mother's  womb 
effectively  separated  and  called  him  unto  that  definite  end 
for  which  His  grace  was  to  fit  him  in  time.  His  natural 
endowments,  his  talents,  his  temperament,  the  tone  and 
disposition  of  his  character,  his  frailty  of  body  and  strength 
of  soul,  his  very  birthplace,  society  and  education :  all 
these,  and  a  thousand  other  things,  were  not  foreknown 
only  by  God — for  "  known  unto  Him  are  all  His  works," 
— but  His  guiding  hand  so  directed  and  disposed  them  all, 
as  best  to  magnify  in  and  through  this  "  chosen  vessel "  the 
abundant  riches  of  His  mercy  and  grace  in  Christ. 

Twice  the  apostle  mentions  his  descent  from  the  tribe 
of  Benjamin,  (Eom.  xi.  1 ;  Phil.  iii.  5.)  Besides  this  we 
find  hardly  any  distinction  by  tribe  mentioned  in  the 
New  Testament.  With  the  exception  of  Elizabeth,  the 
daughter  of  Aaron,  (Luke  i.  4,)  in  whose  son  Levi  found 
his  greatest  representative,  (Matt.  xi.  11,)  and  above  all 
Mary,  of  the  house  of  David,  (Luke  i.  27,)  in  whose  son 
Judah  found  his  Shiloh,  (Gen.  xlix.  10;  Eev.  v.  5,)  we  only 
find  two  persons  mentioned  by  their  tribe — Anna  a  pro- 
phetess of  the  tribe  of  Aser,  (Luke  ii.  36,)  and  Barnabas 
a  Levite  of  Cyprus,  (Acts  iv.  36.)  Not  one  even  of  the 
twelve  apostles  is  distinguished  by  his  tribe.  No  doubt 
Paul  had  studied  the  history  of  his  own  with  special  care 
and  interest,  nor  can  we  help  tracing  in  it  some  significant 
parallels  to  his  own  life.  A  Benoni  ("  son  of  sorrows ") 
Saul  also  was,  and  became  a  Benjamin,  (''  son  of  my  right 
hand,")  on  finding  his  heavenly  Joseph,  whom — like  the 
patriarch   his   brother — he  met  away  from   Israel,  in   a 


4  ST  PAUL. 

heathen  land.  The  warlike  propensity  of  this  tribe,  borne 
from  Jacob's  blessing,  (Gen.  xlix.  27,)  through  the  genera- 
tions of  Israel,  was  to  find,  as  it  were,  its  consummation  in 
him.  For  as  Saul,  the  Benjamite  of  old,  persecuted  David 
of  Judah,  (whose  reign,  nevertheless,  he  could  not  prevent,) 
so  this  new  Saul  persecuted  the  son  of  David,  till — the  bow 
of  his  native  strength  being  broken — he  swore  allegiance  to 
"  the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Juda,"  and  henceforth  fought 
manfully  under  His  banner,  enduring  hardness  as  a  good 
soldier  "  of  Christ." 

St  Paul's  family  seems  to  have  been  scattered  through 
heathen  lands  :  Macedonia,  Greece  and  Eome,  (cf  Eom.  xvi. 
7,  11,  22.)  He  himself,  we  know,  was  a  native  of  Tarsus  in 
Cilicia,  and  he  inherited  from  his  father  the  freedom  of  a 
Roman  citizen,  (Acts  xxi.  39,  xxii.  28.)  Yet  not  Rome,  but 
Jerusalem  was  the  pride  of  his  family.  Where  he  calls  to  re- 
membrance Timothy's  blessing,  as  inherited  from  his  pious 
mother  and  grandmother,  there  he  makes  mention  also  of 
his  own  devout  forefathers,  from  w^hom  he  served  God  with 
a  pure  conscience,  (2  Tim.  i.  3.)  Thus  we  find  young  Saul 
growing  up  in  the  bosom  of  a  family,  outwardly  indeed  the 
citizens  of  heathen  Rome,  but  inwardly  clinging  to  the 
land  of  their  fathers,  and  doubtless  the  more  eagerly  long- 
ing for  the  Hope  of  their  nation,  since  she  was  doomed  still 
to  dwell  among  the  heathen,  where  she  found  no  rest,  (Lam. 
i.3.) 

Israel's  King  and  Saviour  had  already  appeared,  when 
young  Saul  was  still  learning  of  his  parents  to  sigh  with 
the  prophet:  "Watchman,  what  of  the  night?"  For  to 
Tarsus  the  fame  of  the  great  Prophet,  in  whom  God  had 
visited  His  people,  had  most  likely  not  reached  ere  young 
Saul  left  it  for  Jerusalem ;  where,  however,  he  may  have 
already  been  living,  probably  in  the  house  of  his  married 
sister,   (Acts   xxiii.    16,)   at  the  time  when,   amid  loud 


THE  CHOSEN  VESSEL.  O 

hosannas,  Zion's  King  entered  that  city,  and  when,  but 
a  few  days  after,  Zion's  Saviour  was  led  as  a  lamb  to  the 
slaughter.  Nor  could  he  help  hearing  of  what  set'all  Jeru- 
salem in  commotion,  (Luke  xxiv.  18;)  but  seeking,  as  then 
he  was,  his  own  righteousness,  and  learning  from  his 
teachers,  the  Pharisees,  that  "  this  man  "  was  "  a  sinner,'' 
he  might  scorn  to  run  along  with  the  multitude  in  order 
to  see  Him.  Some  of  his  kinsmen — Andronicus  and  Junia 
— we  know  ''  were  in  Christ  before  "  him,  and  so  was  the 
wife  of  Simon  (the  cross-bearer)  of  Cyrene,  the  mother  of 
his  friend  Eufus,  for  she  also  became  his  mother  in  the 
Lord,  (Eom.  xvi.  7,  13.)  But  Saul,  separated  from  his 
mother's  w^omb,  long  resisted  the  drawings  of  divine  grace, 
scorning  in  pharisaic  righteousness  the  very  thought  of  a 
crucified  Saviour  for  sinners.  And  yet  the  Lord  was 
already  preparing  His  chosen  vessel  in  this  proud  youth 
of  Benjamin. 

A  religious  sense — that  tie  of  the  human  heart  to  God 
— ^was  ever  strong  in  Saul,  though  as  yet  he  was,  in  misbe- 
lief, pursuing  a  phantom  of  his  own  creation.  It  was  the 
misconceived  notion  of  Israel's  return  to  righteousness,  and 
thence  to  merited  glory  and  perpetual  reign  under  the  pro- 
mised son  of  David,  which  formed  the  centre  of  all  his 
hopes  and  aims,  so  long  as,  in  ignorance  of  God's  righteous- 
ness by  faith  in  Christ,  he  went  about  to  establish  his  own 
by  the  works  of  the  law.  It  has  often  been  remarked,  that 
Saul  possessed  all  the  natural  requisites  for  becoming  what 
the  world  calls  a  "  great  man."  And  true  it  is,  by  the 
energy  of  his  will,  and  the  uncommon  quickness  of  his 
thought,  he  would  have  made  an  excellent  commander ;  or 
a  poet,  by  the  depth  and  tenderness  of  his  feeling ;  or  a 
philosopher,  by  the  acuteness  of  his  subtle  reasonings ;  or 
a  statesman,  by  his  discernment  of  men  and  his  masterly 
method  of  order.     The  same  Lord  who  called  unlearned 


6  ST  PAUL. 

fishermen  and  publicans  to  be  apostles,  (in  accordance  with 
1  Cor.  i.  26-29,)  fitted  this  future  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  with 
a  fulness  of  natural  gifts  rarely  equalled,  to  make  him,  as  it 
were,  a  silver  vessel  for  the  golden  contents  of  His  grace. 

One  striking  feature  in  his  being  separated  from  the 
womb  for  God's  service  was  the  early  and  constant  bent  of 
his  life  toward  Jerusalem,  his  people's  glory.  Though  as 
yet  he  knew  not  the  free  Jerusalem  which  is  above,  yet  his 
Jewish  patriotism  would  make  him  enter  heart  and  soul 
into  Israel's  sono-  of  Zion  :  "  If  I  forget  thee,  0  Jerusalem  ! 
let  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning.  If  I  do  not  remem- 
ber thee,  let  my  tongue  cleave  to  the  roof  of  my  mouth ;  if 
I  prefer  not  Jerusalem  above  my  chief  joy,"  (Ps.  cxxxvii.) 
To  establisli  Israel's  righteousness  after  the  law,  and  with 
his  people  to  witness  Jerusalem's  prosperity,  was  all  the 
bent  of  his  strong  mind,  of  the  granite-like  constancy  of  his 
character.  There  was  no  difficulty  from  which  he  would 
shrink,  no  wall  he  w^ould  not  attempt  to  climb ;  and  foiled 
ever  so  often,  he  would  return  to  the  struggle  and  labour 
on.  His  tenderest  feelings  of  sympathy — afterwards  en- 
nobled into  love — were  excited  by  the  wretched  degrada- 
tion of  his  down-trodden  nation.  It  was,  as  it  were,  the 
time  of  Israel's  widowhood ;  and  in  his  willing  celibacy  he 
felt  as  though  he  were  betrothed  to  her,  and  his  life  devoted 
to  her  service.  All  the  riches  of  his  mind, — his  rare  talent 
for  making  deductions  and  logically  resolving  a  subject 
into  its  parts,  unfolding  the  rich  meaning  of  a  single  word, 
and  studding,  as  it  were,  out  of  one  germ,  a  whole  meadow 
with  flowers,  the  ingenious,  yea,  fountain-like  originality 
wherewith  thought  after  thought  seems  to  issue  forth  from 
one  fundamental  idea,  around  which  all  range  themselves 
in  order,  like  the  circumference  of  a  circle  around  its  centre, 
his  pointed  wit,  too,  and  his  charming  grace, — in  fine,  all 
his  talents  and  powers  of  mind  centered  in  this  one  object : 


THE  CHOSEN  VESSEL.  7 

Israel's  restoration  to  her  pristine  glory,  by  a  return  to  her 
national  righteousness  after  the  law,  as  the  condition  laid 
down  in  Moses  and  the  Prophets, — in  a  word,  to  see  all  the 
gracious  thouglits  of  the  God  of  his  fathers  realised  con- 
cerning His  people.  Nor  were  his  energies,  wrongly  directed 
as  now  they  were,  exerted  in  vain ;  for  they  served  to  pre- 
pare for  his  high  office  the  future  herald  of  Christ's  right- 
eousness. All  the  munition  of  legal  learning  which  now 
he  brought  into  the  field  against  Christ  was  hereafter  to 
be  turned  into  a  crushing  weapon  against  pharisaic 
Judaism. 

From  Acts  xxii.  o,  we  know  that  young  Saul  was  brought 
up  and  taught  according  to  the  "perfect  manner  of  the 
law "  by  one  Gamaliel,  a  Pharisee,  and  doctor  of  the  law, 
held  in  reputation  among  all  the  people,  and  who  is  pre- 
sented to  us  by  St  Luke,  (Acts  v.  34,  &c.,)  in  the  favour- 
able light  of  shielding  the  apostles'  lives  by  his  equitable 
advocacy  in  their  behalf,  thus  shewing  him  to  have  been  a 
very  different  man  from  the  worldly,  persecuting  Sadducees, 
(ib.  ver.  17,)  from  whose  infidel  tenets  he  would  turn  with 
disgust,  far  as  he  himself  might  be  from  seeking  the  hope 
of  Israel  in  a  crucified  and  risen  Eedeemer.  The  wonders 
wrought  in  Solomon's  porch  by  the  hands  of  the  apostles, 
(ib.  ver.  12-16,)  and  Peter's  bold  defence  and  testimony  of 
Christ  before  the  Council,  (ib.  ver.  29-32,)  could  not,  indeed, 
fail  to  bring  the  question  home  to  his  heart,  wdiether  this 
work  might  not  be  of  God,  (ib.  ver.  39 ;)  but,  like  a  true 
Pharisee,  he  would  look  for  the  kingdom  of  God  to  come 
"  with  observation,"  (Luke  xvii.  20,)  and  therefore  probably 
expect,  that  if  this  Jesus  whom  Peter  preached  to  be  "  a 
Prince  and  a  Saviour,"  were  indeed  the  promised  Messiah, 
God  would  shew  Him  (as  such)  openly  on  Mount  Sion,  and 
lay  all  the  heathen  prostrate  at  His  feet.  With  what  eager- 
ness may  young  Saul  have  listened  to  this  honourable  Phari- 


8  ST  PAUL. 

see  !  and  how,  sitting  at  his  feet,  would  all  his  attention  be 
absorbed  in  his  arguments,  as  he  might  seek  to  demon- 
strate out  of  Moses  and  the  Prophets  the  character  of  their 
still-longed-for  Messiah,  sitting  upon  the  throne  of  David, 
awarding  eternal  life  to  His  chosen  people,  the  heathen  and 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  His  possession,  Israel's  laws 
those  of  the  world,  and  Jerusalem's  temple  a  house  of 
prayer  for  all  people !  How  would  Saul's  youthful  soul, 
thirsting  for  the  glory  of  Israel,  revel  in  prospects  like 
these !  and  how,  under  such  transporting  thoughts,  would 
his  ire  be  stirred,  when  he  heard  one  of  the  despised  sect 
of  the  I^azarene  tear  to  pieces,  by  his  spirited  arguments, 
all  these  carnal  hopes  of  the  Pharisees,  who,  unable  to  re- 
sist the  wisdom  and  spirit  by  which  he  spake,  suborned 
men,  accusing  him  of  "  blasphemous  words  against  Moses 
and  against  God,"  (Acts  vi.  10,  11.)  Yet  Saul  was  soon  to 
become  heir  to  both  the  wusdom  and  spirit  of  this  faithful 
confessor ;  and  we  have  to  look  upon  his  meeting  with  St 
Stephen  as,  under  God's  providence,  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful demonstrations  of  that  grace  which  was  already  seek- 
ing his  soul,  though  he  knew  it  not. 

Gamaliel's  teaching,  however,  of  Jewish  law  and  divinity, 
was  not  the  limit  of  Saul's  education;  he  was  trained, 
moreover,  from  his  youth  in  Grecian  knowledge  and  wis- 
dom. When  yet  a  boy  in  his  native  town  of  Tarsus  he  had 
already  the  opportunity  of  hearing  those  that  were  masters 
in  Hellenic  art,  rhetoric  and  philosophy.  Strabo,  in  speaking 
of  the  inhabitants  of  that  famous  city,  says  that  they  displayed 
such  zeal  in  philosophy  and  all  branches  of  general  science, 
that  they  excelled  those  of  all  other  towns,  not  even  ex- 
cepting Athens  and  Alexandria.  Though  designed  for  a 
rabbi,  Saul,  according  to  Jewish  custom,  also  learned  a 
handicraft — that  of  tent-maker,  (Acts  xviii.  3.)  StiU  he 
found  time  for  learned  studies.     As  he  read  the  Greek  poets 


THE  CHOSEN  VESSEL.  9 

and  philosophers,  (cf.  Acts  xvii.  28 ;  Tit.  i.  12,)  and  as  he 
followed  the  winding  ways  in  which  their  heathen  minds 
sought  after  the  unknown  God,  if  haply  they  might  feel 
after  and  find  Him ; — as  he  gained  insight  into  the  history 
of  their  deep  fall  into  spiritual  and  moral  depravity,  into 
their  outward  splendour  and  inner  wretchedness; — as  he 
was  led  to  contemplate  the  goodness  of  God,  both  in  His 
judgments  and  preservation  of  them ; — as  he  made  himself 
master  of  the  language  then  spoken  by  all  the  learned  in 
the  whole  world,  and  in  which  human  genius  has  woven 
its  finest  and  richest  garment, — Saul  knew  not  to  whose 
service  all  this  acquisition  of  knowdedge  was  destined  to  be 
devoted ;  that  even  this  training  also  belonged  to  the  separa- 
tion from  his  mother's  womb  for  the  service  of  Christ  among 
the  Gentiles — "For  all  things  serve  thee,"  (Ps.  cxix.  91.) 
The  Holy  Ghost,  by  whom  "  holy  men  of  God  are  moved  " 
to  speak  and  act,  despises  not  to  make  use  of  all  the  powers  ^• 
of  the  human  mind,  after  He  has  purified  and  consecrated 
them.  To  the  picture  of  the  man  who  preached  and 
''taught  publicly,  and  from  house  to  house,"  who  was  "in- 
stant in  season  and  out  of  season,"  who  ''ceased  not  to 
warn  every  one  night  and  day  with  tears,"  and  who,  beside'^" 
that  which  came  upon  him  daily — "the  care  of  all  the 
churches,"  yet  ministered  with  his  hands  unto  his  own 
necessities  and  those  that  were  with  him ; — to  the  picture 
of  that  man,  also,  belongs  this  trait,  that  amid  all  his 
labours  he  still  continued  to  study  and  to  read,  even  re- 
questing Timothy,  in  the  very  last  epistle  he  wrote — when  ^ 
already  brought  before  Nero  the  second  time — to  bring 
him  "the  books  and  parchments"  which  he  had  left  at 
Troas,  (2  Tim.  iv.  13.) 

Yet,  taught  by  grace,  how  little  did  this  great  man  think 
of  himself!  To  the  Corinthians  he  writes:  "Of  myself 
I  will  not  glory,  but  in  mine  infirmities,"  (2  Cor.  xii.  5.) 


10  ST  PAUL. 

He  knew  that  he  had  nothing  which  he  had  not  received, 
(1  Cor.  iv.  7.)  His  greatest  privileges  by  birth  and  advan- 
tages by  nature,  all  these  he  counted  but  "  loss,"  yea,  but 
"  dung "  for  the  "  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
Jesus "  his  Lord,  (Phil.  iii.  4,  &c.)  Not  the  strength  he 
had  inherited  from  his  mother's  womb,  but  his  very  w^eak- 
ness  he  looked  upon  as  a  preparatory  grace  of  Him  that 
called  him.  And  a  twofold  weakness  tliis  w^as.  As  an 
adherent  of  the  "  straitest  sect  of  Jews,"  (Acts  xxvi.  5,)  he 
was  made  to  experience,  under  the  burden  of  the  law,  that 
weakness  of  which  he  speaks,  (Eom.  v.  6,)  "  For  when  we 
were  yet  without  strength,  in  due  time  Christ  died  for  us." 
But  of  this  weakness,  which  he  was  deeply  to  experience 
under  grace's  training,  we  shall  come  to  speak  in  the 
next  chapter — Saul  "  the  Pharisee."  Here  we  shall  speak 
of  that  "weakness"  and  those  ''infirmities,"  of  which  he 
says,  "  Most  gladly,  therefore,  will  I  rather  glory  in  them, 
that  the  power  of  Christ  may  rest  upon  me,"  (2  Cor.  xii.  9.) 
What  he  means  by  the  "  thorn  in  the  flesh,"  (v.  7,)  which 
he  had  to  carry  about  with  him,  "  the  messenger  of  Satan  " 
to  buffet  him,  (after  the  manner  of  Job,)  he  has  wisely 
withheld  from  us,  not  unlikely  for  this  obvious  reason, 
that  every  Christian,  suffering  under  whatsoever  tempta- 
tion, might  have  the  benefit  of  applying  to  his  own  pecu- 
liar case  the  ghostly  comfort  to  be  derived  from  this  doleful 
apostolic  confession.  Par  from  rejecting  Luther's  view  of 
the  apostle  alluding  to  some  "great  spiritual  temptation," 
yet  we  deem  it  more  than  likely  that  Satan,  as  his  basis 
for  buffeting  him,  had  recourse  to  some  grievous  bodily 
affliction, — a  view  which  seems  clearly  indicated  by  many 
allusions  we  find  in  his  Epistles.  "  Through  infirmity  of 
the  flesh"  he  preached  the  go.spel  to  the  Galatians, 
and  he  praises  them  for  not  having  despised  or  taken 
offence   at    his    "temptation   which  was   in    the    flesh," 


THE  CHOSEN  VESSEL.  11 

(Gal.  iv.  13,  14.)  His  proud  opponents  at  Corinth,  he 
hears  say  of  him  :  "  His  letters  are  weighty  and  power- 
ful, but  his  bodily  presence  is  weak,  and  his  speecli 
contemptible,"  (2  Cor.  x.  10;  cf.  v.  1:  "who  in  pre- 
sence am  base  among  you.")  Thus,  it  should  seem,  we 
have  to  think  of  the  apostle  as  in  his  person  weak  and 
infirm;  and  as  such  Eaphael  has  also  painted  him.  ''A 
poor,  lean,  little  man,  like  Master  Philip,"  (Melancthon,)  so 
Luther  thought  of  him ;  and  Mcophorus  Callisti,  an  Orien- 
tal Church  historian  of  the  fourteenth  century,  also  calls 
him  "  a  short,  stooping  man."  Nor  is  it  improbable,  that 
his  first  acquaintance  with  Luke  was  as  his  ''beloved 
physician ; "  and  Phoebe's  succour  and  Mary's  labour  (Eom. 
xvi.  2,  6)  may  likewise  have  been  bestowed  on  his  bodily 
infirmities.  But  why  does  he  glory  in  such  his  infirmities  ? 
Because  he  was  thereby  drawn  to  cast  himself  entirely 
into  the  arms  of  his  heavenly  Lord.  If  we  read  the  regis- 
ter of  his  labours  and  sufferings,  w^hich,  in  sorrow  to  be 
compelled  to  such  "  foolish  boasting,"  he  details  in  2  Cor. 
xi. ;  if  we  hear  him  relate  to  the  elders  of  the  Ephesian 
church  at  Miletus  in  what  manner  he  had  been  with  them 
at  all  seasons,  (Acts  xx.  17,  &c. ;)  if  we  follow  his  whole 
course  from  Jerusalem  to  Eome,  as  St  Luke  has  penned  it, 
and  add  to  it  the  entire  train  of  sacrifices  his  Epistles 
develop,  truly  a  gigantic  strength  would  seem  to  have 
been  requisite  for  undergoing  all  that  labour — all  those 
sufferings  !  But,  behold,  his  body  was  feeble  !  "  I  can  do 
all  things  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  me,"  (Phil, 
iv.  13.)  To  make  this  precious  truth  the  more  deeply  felt, 
it  was  to  this  end  that  he  inherited  such  weakness  from  his 
mother's  womb.  By  the  power  of  Christ  alone  he  would 
allow  himself  to  be  borne,  (2  Cor.  iv.  10,)  learning  thus  to 
express  the  mystery  of  his  strength  :  "  When  I  am  weak, 
then  am  I  strong,"  (2  Cor.  xii.  10.)     With  this  view  even 


12  ST  PAUL. 

the  frail  body  of  this  chosen  vessel  was  formed ;  and  right 
well  was  proved  and  exemplified  in  Paul  what  the  blessed 
Woltersdorf  sings  of  his  own  experience  : — 

"  And  though  it  go  through  weakness  e'er  so  sad, 

I  f  oUoAV,  at  His  call,  my  heavenly  guide ; 
The  Avork  which  does  but  rest  on  Christ  my  head, 

Despite  my  impotence,  must  sure  abide. 
When  sick  are  both  the  body  and  the  soul, 
We  see  that  Jesus  only  does  the  whole." 

From  the  above-quoted  taunt  of  his  adversaries  at  Corinth, 
"his  speech  is  contemptible,"  it  would  appear  that  the 
apostle  had  some  defect  in  his  tongue,  which  hindered  him 
from  becoming  what  the  world  calls  a '"good  speaker;" 
and,  indeed,  he  himself  says  :  "  Though  I  be  rude  in  speech, 
[literally,  a  lay-speaker,]  yet  not  in  knowledge;  but  we 
have  been  thoroughly  made  manifest  among  you  in  all 
things,"  (2  Cor.  xi.  6.)  Strange  I  Paul  no  speaker.  And 
certainly  Apollos  better  pleased  the  ticklish  ears  of  the 
Corinthians;  and  the  Athenians,  whose  ears  were  still 
more  spoiled,  called  him  a  "babbler,"  (Acts  xvii.  18,) 
enough  to  shew  that  he  had  not  the  best  natural  organ  of 
speech.  A  strong,  and  often  violent  struggle  with  language 
which  he  forces  into  the  expression  of  divine  thoughts,  is 
his  idiom.  Wliile  "  casting  down  imaginations,  and  eyevy 
high  thing  that  exalteth  itself  against  the  knowledge  of 
God,  and  bringing  into  captivity  every  thought  to  the 
obedience  of  Christ,"  (2  Cor.  x.  5,)  he  could  not  bring  to 
his  aid  the  carnal  weapons  of  a  powerful  organ,  a  modula- 
tion of  voice,  or  an  imposing  person.  But  what  his  all- 
prevailing  weapon  was,  he  tells  us  in  1  Cor.  ii.  4 ;  it  con- 
sisted in  "  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of  power."  Not 
any  "  excellency  of  speech  or  of  wisdom,"  but  solely  the 
things  lie  preached,  the  spirit  in  which  he  preached  them, 
and  the  fulness  of  life  out  of  which  he  drew  them :  this 


THE  CHOSEN  VESSEL.  13 

was  what  attracted  men's  hearts,  and  drew  so  many  souls 
to  Christ.  Demosthenes,  the  great  orator  of  Greece,  forced 
his  heavy  tongue,  by  persevering  efforts,  into  suppleness 
and  eloquence;  but  Paul,  like  Moses,  ''of  a  slow  tongue," 
painted,  in  "contemptible  speech,"  before  all  men's  eyes. 
Him  who  had  ''no  form  nor  comeliness,"  and  yet  was  "  fairer 
than  the  children  of  men,"  and  "  full  of  grace  in  His  lips." 
TertuUus,  the  Eoman  orator,  (Acts  xxiv.  1,  &c.,)  no  doubt 
surpassed  Paul  in  rhetorical  art,  yet  how  undauntedly  does 
the  apostle  open  his  mouth  before  Jews  and  Gentiles, 
high  priests  and  kings,  in  his  weakness  leaning  upon  Him 
who  hath  said,  "  I  will  give  you  a  mouth  and  wisdom, 
which  all  your  adversaries  shall  not  be  able  to  gainsay  nor 
resist,"  (Luke  xxi.  15.) 

Thus  strength  and  weakness  both  were  made  to  serve 
in  making  this  "  chosen  vessel "  of  the  Lord  what  through 
grace  he  became. 

"  Though  separated  from  his  mother's  womb, 

And  chose  a  vessel  meet  for  heav'nly  use, 
Paul,  that  his  nature  might  to  grace  succumb, 

Was  led  through  bitter  ways  man  would  not  choose; 
For  first  must  die  in  him  the  man  called  Saul, 
That  grace  supreme  might  live  and  reign  in  Paul." 


14  ST  PAUL. 


II. 

THE  PHAEISEE. 

"  I  was  alive  without  the  law  once ;  but  when  the  commandment  came, 
sin  revived." — Rom.  vii.  9, 

Such  a  Pharisee  as  the  man  in  Luke  xviii.  11,  satisfied  in 
his  negative  righteousness,  Saul  was  not.  No,  he  took 
bitter  pains  in  his  Pharisaism,  walking,  as  he  w^as  taught, 
according  to  the  perfect  manner  of  the  law  of  the  fathers, 
being  zealous  toward  God,  (Acts  xxii.  3 ;)  and  he  painfully 
felt  the  rod  of  the  legal  driver,  when,  ignorant  of  God's 
righteousness,  he  went  about  to  establish  his  own,  (Eom. 
X.  3.)  The  star  of  his  hope,  the  glorious  splendour  of  Mes- 
siah's reign,  he  could  conceive  only  as  rising  over  "a  righteous 
nation  which  keepeth  the  truth,"  or  "  the  faith,"  (as  Luther 
has  rendered  Is.  xxvi.  2.)  To  keep  the  faith  was  all  Saul's 
aim ;  but  he  knew  not  what  faith  is,  though  we  have  learnt 
it  of  Paul  to  be  no  human  work  nor  virtue,  but  that  organ 
wrought  in  our  heart  through  God's  word  and  Spirit,  by 
means  of  which  we  apprehend  and  receive  with  childlike 
trust  and  confidence,  the  riches  of  His  grace  in  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord.  But  to  Saul  the  Pharisee  it  still  was  a 
work,  a  legal  virtue,  the  due  respect  and  literal  observance 
of  all  God-appointed  institutions  and  ordinances,  circum- 
cision, the  passover,  and  the  reading  of  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets  on  every  Sabbath  ;  all  which  he  kept  strictly,  and 
walked^ in  unblamably.  "  Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord ! " 
This  prophetic  call  to  repentance  would  sound  in  Saul's 


THE  PHARISEE.  15 

ear  as  a  spur  to  unremitting  exertions;  for  not  till  his 
nation  should  have  returned  to  unblamable  righteousness 
could  he  think  that  Messiah  would  appear  to  deliver  Israel 
from  all  her  enemies,  and  crown  His  chosen  people  with 
glory  and  honour  in  His  kingdom  of  righteousness.  These 
were  the  cravings  of  Saul's  soul. 

"  Touching  the  righteousness  which  is  in  the  law,  blame- 
less," (Phil.  iii.  6,)  this  was  his  motto  as  a  Pharisee.  Be- 
fore men  he  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  this  blamelessness, 
and  to  obtain  it  before  God  did  not  appear  to  him  out  of 
the  reach  of  his  power.  For  how  should  God  have  given 
laws  to  His  people  which  they  were  not  able  to  keep  ?  Eight- 
eousness,  then,  must  verily  be  obtainable  by  the  deeds  of 
the  law,  which  must  give  life,  or  else  it  were  not ''holy 
and  just,  and  good."  So  Saul  argued  and  thought.  Had 
he  been  a  hypocritical,  or  even  superficial  Pharisee,  the 
coming  to  a  compromise  with  the  requirements  of  the  law 
might  have  caused  him  little  difficulty.  But  he  felt  the 
deadly  point  of  the  law  in  the  tenth  commandment,  "  Thou 
shalt  not  covet,"  (Eom.  vii.  7 ;)  and  the  knowledge  of  its 
spirituality  discovered  to  him  that  he  was  "  carnal,  sold 
under  sin,"  (Rom.  vii.  14.)*     But  did  this  discovery  make 

*  Like  that  honest  farmer  (Michael  was  his  name)  who,  on  his  death- 
bed, called  out  to  his  son:  "Jack,  just  reach  down  the  Catechism  from 
yonder  shelf,  to  see  how  my  past  life  agrees  with  it.  Please,  read  me  the 
commandments."  "  Thou  shalt  have  none  other  gods  but  me.  Thou 
shalt  not  make  to  thyself  any  graven  image,"  &c.  "  Oh,  these  two  I  have 
always  kept ;  I  have  neither  worshipped  idols,  like  the  heathen,  nor  bowed 
down  to  images,  like  the  Roman  Catholics.  Please,  proceed  to  the  third." 
"  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain,"  &c.  "Here 
I  am  right  also  ;  I  never  swore  an  oath  except  in  a  court  of  justice;  pray, 
pass  to  the  next."  "  Remember  that  thou  keep  holy  the  Sabbath-day," 
"Oh,  there  I  am  not  to  blame  either;  I  have  always  gone  to  church  of  a 
Sunday,  and  never  played  at  cards,  nor  made  my  servants  work.  Which 
follows  now?"  "  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother."  "  Ay,  as  to  that, 
Jack,  I  may  well  bid  you  follow  my  example ;  for  when  a  boy  I  shewed 


16  ST  PAUL. 

Saul  lose  trust  in  his  own  power  ?  By  no  means;  it  incited 
him  only  the  more  earnestly  to  set  about  establishing  his 
own  righteousness.  ''And  I  profited,"  he  says,  "in  the 
Jews'  religion  above  many  mine  equals  in  mine  own 
nation,  being  more  exceedingly  zealous  of  the  traditions 
of  my  fathers,"  (Gal.  i.  14.)  He  knew  only  one  way  of 
silencing  his  conscience,  which  accused  him  of  the  lust 
stirred  up  in  his  members  by  the  commandment ;  and  that 
was,  by  keeping  the  commandment.  Even  that  chiefest 
of  all :  "  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thine 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  might," 
(Deut.  vi.  5,)  he  despaired  not  to  attain  to  it,  and  therefore 
entered  his  resolute  "  No  "  to  the  death-threatening  sen- 
tence of  the  law.  He  knew  nothing  yet  of  the  law  "  work- 
ing death  "  in  him,  "  that  sin  by  the  commandment  might 
become  exceeding  sinful,"  (Eom.  vii.  13  ;)  and,  as  dying  unto 
sin  was  still  a  strange  doctrine  to  him,  he  was  utterly  un- 
willing to  die  hy  sin ;  and  therefore  strove  with  all  his 
might  to  get  the  mastery  over  it,  that  he  might  live  by 
righteousness.'  Stung  by  the  commandment,  sin  would 
take  occasion  daily  to  gnaw  at  the  fair  flower  of  his  self- 
righteousness,  making  it  fade  and  droop  ;  but  daily  also 

all  honour  and  respect  to  my  poor  parents,  God  bless  them  !  What 's  the 
next  ? "  "  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder."  "  Thank  God,  that 's  not  on  my 
conscience.  I  never  slew  a  man,  not  even  in  lawful  war.  Go  on."  "  Thou 
shalt  not  commit  adultery."  "  Of  that  I  have  kept  clear  also,  and  always 
been  faithful  to  your  poor  mother.  Proceed."  "  Thou  shalt  not  steal." 
"1. never  took  aught  did  not  belong  to  me.  K'ext."  "Thou  shalt  not 
bear  false  witness  against  thy  neigbour."  "  I  never  was  summoned  as  wit- 
ness, nor  would  I  swear  falsely  against  any  person.  Are  there  any  more  ? " 
"  Yes,  one  :  Thou  shalt  not  covet."  Stop,  Jack  !  there,  1  must  think  a 
little ;  yes,  I  cannot  say  I  have  never  coveted.  Pray,  look  for  poor  mamma's 
Bible  on  the  subject."  And  here  Jack  found  a  reference  from  Exod. 
XX.  to  Matt,  v.,  by  which  the  upright  farmer  was  soon  led  to  see  that  he 
had  broken  the  whole,  and,  becoming  fully  conscious  of  his  exceeding  sin- 
fulness, he  betook  himself  to  that  Christ  whom  Paul  preached,  and  died 
a  penitent. — Tr. 


THE  PHARISEE.  17 

would  he  water  it  anew  by  self-imposed  acts  of  a  legal 
martyrdom,  and  thus  prolong  its  artificial  existence.  And 
why  was  he  so  careful  and  zealous  ?  whom  did  he  really 
serve  ?  He  indeed  imagined  that  he  was  serving  the  God 
of  his  fathers,  while  in  fact  he  was  committing  sacrilege. 
(Eom.  ii.  22 ;)  because  all  the  while  only  feeding  the  pride 
of  that  high  and  noble  youth  "  of  the  stock  of  Israel,  of 
the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  an  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews;  as 
touching  the  law,  a  Pharisee,"  (Phil.  iii.  5.)  0  Saul  1 
"  thou  art  wearied  in  the  greatness  of  thy  way;  yet  saidst 
thou  not,  There  is  no  hope :  thou  hast  found  the  life  of 
thine  hand;  therefore  thou  wast  not  grieved,'  (Isa.  Ivii.  10.) 
More  sharply  Paul  could  not  have  condemned  his 
Pharisaism,  more  severely  he  could  not  have  proved  his 
own  infatuated  self-deception  of  this  period,  than  by  the 
words  we  have  chosen  for  the  motto  of  this  chapter,  "  I 
was  alive  without  the  law  once."  And  herewith  he  does 
not  mean  the  life  of  his  childhood,  when  yet  unconscious 
of  the  law's  .''  Thou  shalt,"  and  "  Thou  shalt  not ;  "  when 
lust  had  not  yet  appeared  unto  him  as  sin,  and  death  not 
been  felt  by  him  as  the  punishment  of  it.  For  he  adds, 
"  and  I  died."  But  if  this  death  had  taken  place  on  his 
first  awakening  to  a  consciousness  of  the  law,  he  could  no 
longer  have  "found  the  life  of  his  own  hand,"  and  of  his 
Pharisaism  there  would  have  been  an  end.  This  was  not 
the  case ;  on  the  contrary,  unwilling  to  the  last  to  concede 
the  ''killing  letter"  a  right  over  him,  he  continued  his  ut- 
most efforts  to  ward  off  the  death-thrusts  of  the  law  by 
trying  to  turn  its  flaming  testimony  against  sin  into  a 
quenching  engine  against  God's  wrath.  Thus,  though  in 
truth  panting  under  the  burden  of  the  law,  he  fancied  him- 
self to  be  "  alive  without  the  law ; "  while,  by  his  right- 
eousness after  the  law,  he  constantly,  but  fruitlessly, 
sought  to  secure  this  imaginary  life  against  the  consuming 


18  ST  PAUL. 

fire  of  that  very  law,  the  brightness  of  which  no  man  can 
bear  to  behold.  Out  of  the  wretchedness  of  this  experience 
he  speaks,  when  he  says,  "  But  even  unto  this  day,  when 
Moses  is  read,  the  vail  is  upon  their  heart,"  (2  Cor.  iii.  15.) 
Only  from  behind  this  vail,  woven  thick  as  scales  out  of 
the  illusions  of  man's  free-will,  can  man  bear  to  look  upon 
the  law,  and  take  it  to  be  the  strength  of  righteousness, 
whilst  in  truth  it  is  the  strength  of  sin,  (1  Cor.  xv.  56.) 
Let  us  rightly  understand  St  Paul's  humble  confession,  "  1 
was  alive  without  the  law  once."  Saul  the  Pharisee's 
error  certainly  was  not  that  he  took  it  over  strictly  with 
God's  holy  commandments.  God  indeed  takes  it  far  more 
strictly  than  the  strictest  Pharisee.  On  the  contrary,  his 
grievous  fault  was,  with  a  serious  face,  to  play,  as  it  were, 
at  hide-and-seek  with  the  law.  But  it  found  him  out  in 
every  place.  Ever  nearer  and  nearer  it  went  to  his  life  ; 
and  the  issue,  alas  !  of  his  unhappy  marriage  with  it  was 
one  fruit  after  another  brought  forth  unto  death,  (Eom.  vii. 
5.)  A  legion  of  lusts,  doubts,  unbelief,  murmurings,  or 
even  enmity  against  the  true  God  of  the  unflattering  and 
unswerving  law;  in  fine,  the  entire  host  of  sins  lurking 
in  the  flesh,  revived  and  issued  forth  from  their  hiding- 
places  at  law's  call ;  and  thus  sin  by  the  commandment 
became  exceeding  sinful,  (Eom  vii.  13.)  His  fancied  life 
"  without  the  law,"  and  the  illusion  of  a  righteousness 
after  the  Pharisaic  phantom  of  the  law,  it  became  daily 
more  difficult  for  him  to  maintain ;  yea  it  was  a  life  of 
death  nigh  unto  heU.  And  yet  Saul  the  Pharisee  would 
rather  prolong  it  by  seeking,  in  hot  conflict,  to  parry  the 
death-stroke  of  the  law,  than  die  under  the  cry  of  help- 
less weakness,   "  God  be  merciful  to  me  a  sinner  ! " 

That  this  was  pride,  Saul  would  not  then  acknowledge, 
being  zealous,  as  he  thought,  not  for  his  own  honour,  but 
for  that  of  the  God  of  Israel ;  and  indignant,  not  so  much 


THE  PHARISEE.  19 

against  the  reproach  of  human  nature,  as  being  too  weak 
to  work  God's  righteousness,  but  rather  the  blasphemous 
thought  that  the  law  was  unable  to  effect  it.  The  in- 
ability of  the  former  to  be  "  subject  to  the  law  of  God" 
(Rom.  viii.  7,)  he  would  not  own,  for  the  very  reason  that 
this  admission  would  imply  the  other,  that  "  the  law  was 
weak  through  the  flesh,"  (Rom.  viii.  3 ;)  which  must  have 
shaken  his  faith  in  God  altogether,  for  Him  he  knew  not 
yet,  who,  by  His  perfect  obedience  to  the  will  of  God,  and 
His  atoning  death  for  sinners,  has  brought  in  another 
righteousness,  even  that  of  faith.  An  adulterer,  therefore, 
in  the  sense  of  Rom.  vii.  3,  Saul  would  have  become,  had 
he  escaped  from  under  the  yoke  of  righteousness  by  the 
law,  ere  he  knew  of  another,  by  faith  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Thus,  then,  he  was  a  very  different  man  from  those  who 
boast  of  their  freedom  from  the  law  without  any  ''  obedi- 
ence to  the  faith,"  or,  in  other  words,  who  make  void  the 
law,  instead  of  establishing  it  through  faith,  (Rom.  iii.  31.) 
To  his  experience  rather  that  word  of  Christ  would 
come  home,  "  If  any  man  will  do  His  will,  he  shall  know 
of  the  doctrine,  whether  it  be  of  God,  or  whether  I  speak 
of  myself,"  (John  vii.  17.)  This  will  of  God,  Saul  found 
expressed  in  the  law,  to  fulfil  which  he  set  to  work  all  the 
powers  of  his  will,  in  order  only  to  learn  that  he  was  a 
lost  and  condemned  sinner,  needing  a  Saviour  such  as 
Christ  Jesus.  Though,  indeed,  Paul  himself  would  give 
us  the  lie,  were  we  to  say  that  God  had  manifested  His 
Son  to  him  in  reward  of  his  earnestness  and  sincerity, 
(Rom  ix.  16,  xi.  6  :)  yet — to  agree  with  Paul — we  shall  be 
correct  in  saying,  that  God's  grace  followed  him  in  all  the 
ways  of  his  infatuated  blindness,  till,  by  the  repeated 
chastisements  of  the  law,  as  "  our  schoolmaster  to  bring  us 
unto  Christ,"  (Gal.  iii.  24,)  he  was  so  "wearied  in  the 
greatness  of  his  way,"  that  it  needed  but  "  the  heavenly 


20  ST  PAUL. 

voice,"  in  order  to  throw  himself  at  once  and  completely 
into  the  arms  of  his  merciful  Saviour.  He  that  was  to 
become  a  Paul,  strong  by  grace  of  faith,  had  first  to  expe- 
rience in  Saul  his  utter  inability  to  acquire  a  righteousness 
by  the  deeds  of  the  law.  The  Jews'  advantage  over  the 
Gentiles  in  their  possessing  the  Eevelation,  served  to 
sharpen  the  accusations  of  their  conscience  through  the 
broken  law,  in  order  that  the  true  Israel,  that  is,  the  Church 
of  Christ — being  raised  on  the  wrecks  of  Judaism — might, 
through  grace,  let  the  doctrine  of  righteousness  by  faith  in 
Christ  shine  resplendent  through  all  lands,  to  the  joy  of 
all  true  children  of  Abraham,  (cf.  Eom.  iii.  and  iv.,  and 
Gal.  iii.) 

Saul,  the  Pharisee,  and  Luther,  the  Austin  friar,  form  a 
pair.  The  sophists,  at  whose  feet  Luther  sat  and  studied 
his  divinity,  were  very  dexterous  in  the  art  of  weaving 
veils,  not  only  for  Moses  and  the  prophets,  but  also  for 
Christ  and  His  apostles,  in  order  to  conceal  both  the  splen- 
dour of  the  law  and  the  comforting  light  of  the  gospel,  and 
thus  to  place  in  advantageous  relief  the  bright  shining  qua- 
lities of  the  natural  man.  But  for  all  that,  Luther  came 
under  anguish  of  sin  by  the  terrors  of  the  law ;  the  lightning- 
conductors  fabricated  by  the  "  idle "  scholastics  to  ward 
off  its  strokes  did  not  shield  him.  As  Saul  at  Jerusalem 
was  intent  on  gaining  merit  by  the  diligent  keeping  of 
the  Jewish  ordinances,  or  pacifying  the  accusations  of  his 
conscience  by  legal  acts  of  devotion  and  self-sacrifice,  so 
Luther,  in  the  monastery  at  Erfurt.  Therefore,  after  Christ 
had  sliined  into  both  their  hearts,  Luther  learnt  so  tho- 
roughly to  understand  Paul,  that,  imawed  by  the  opposition 
of  Eomish  pharisees  and  scribes — strutting  along  against 
him  with  proofs,  wherewith  he  himself,  as  monk,  had  endea- 
voured in  vain  to  pacify  his  alarmed  soul — he  went  on 
boldly  to  exalt  Christ's  blood  and  righteousness  as  the 


THE  PHARISEE.  21 

only  remedy  and  refuge  for  sinners.  "  If  there  was  ever 
any  man,"  he  could  say,  after  the  manner  of  Paul,  (Acts 
xxii.  3,  &c. ;  Phil.  iii.  4-6,)  ''  who  held  in  repute  the  Pope's 
ordinances,  and  was  zealous  for  the  traditions  of  our 
fathers,  it  was  I,  who  have  heartily  defended  and  looked 
upon  them  as  holy  relics,  and  upon  their  observance  as 
indeed  necessary  to  salvation ;  yea,  to  keep  them  inviolate 
I  have  tormented  my  body  with  fasting,  watching,  prayer, 
and  other  exercises,  more  than  all  who  are  now  mine  ene- 
mies and  persecutors ;  for  I  thought  in  this  wise  to  satisfy 
the  law,  and  shield  my  conscience  from  the  rod  of  the 
oppressor.  Yet  it  availed  me  naught ;  yea,  the  further  I 
proceeded  in  this  way  the  more  terrified  I  grew,  so  that  I 
had  nigh  despaired,  had  not  Christ  mercifully  looked  upon 
me,  and  enlightened  my  heart  by  the  light  of  His  Gospel." 
And  when  Paul  "testified"  to  his  countrymen  "the 
kingdom  of  God,  persuading  them  concerning  Jesus,  both 
out  of  the  law  of  Moses  and  out  of  the  prophets,"  (Acts 
xxviii.  23,  &c.,)  what  else  did  he  do  but  convince  his  blind 
brethren  that,  though  living  under  the  law,  they  were,  as 
he  himself  had  once  been,  "  alive  without  the  law;"  that 
with  all  their  boast  of  the  law,  they  mistook  and  denied 
the  power  of  it?  Ever  and  anon,  during  his  unwearied 
apostolic  labours,  would  his  former  life  as  Pharisee  come 
fresh  to  his  memory.  Made  himself  a  true  Israelite,  who, 
"  through  the  law,"  had  become  "  dead  to  the  law,"  (Gal. 
ii.  19,)  he  still,  in  his  "  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh," 
had  to  re-taste  over  and  over  again,  to  the  very  dregs,  the 
enmity  of  false  Israelites,  who,  under  the  law,  lived  with- 
out the  law.  But  the  Church  has  now,  in  the  apostolic 
teaching  of  this  former  Pharisee,  to  enjoy  the  fruit  of  that 
seed  which  fell  into  such  deeply-furrowed  soil.  The  very 
first  sermon  St  Luke  has  recorded  of  him,  (at  Antioch  in 
Pisidia,)  how  beautifully  clear   is   its   evangelical  tone  ! 


22  ST  PAUL. 

"  Be  it  known  nnto  you,  therefore,  men  and  brethren,  that 
through  this  man  is  preached  unto  you  the  forgiveness  of 
sins :  and  by  Him  all  that  believe  are  justified  from  all 
things,  from  which  ye  could  not  be  justified  by  the  law  of 
Moses,"  (Acts  xiii.  38,  39 ;)  and  in  the  Eomans  he  sums 
up  the  preaching  of  the  faith  in  this  short  sentence, 
"  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  law  for  righteousness  to  every 
one  that  believeth,"  (Eom.  x.  4.) 

Gamaliel,  Saul's  teacher,  is  celebrated  to  this  day  among 
the  Jews  as  the  author  of  a  terrible  prayer  of  theirs  against 
Jesus  of  Nazareth.  Who  made  Saul  to  differ  ?  The  perse- 
cutor of  Jesus  in  His  people  knew  no  other  cause  of  his 
salvation  than  simply  God's  mercy  in  Christ. 

"  Saul  would  not  die,  but  his  whole  soul  was  bent 
To  satisfy  the  law,  and  thereby  live. 
He  scorn'd  the  thought  that  God's  law  should  be  meant 

To  kill,  instead  of  righteousness  to  give ; 
Yea,  and  the  more  he  had  its  smart  to  feel, 
The  more  he  grew  beyond  his  peers  in  zeal ." 


THE  PEKSECUTOR.  23 


III. 

THE  PEESECUTOR. 

"  I  persecuted  this  way  unto  the  death." — Acts  xxii.  4, 

"  Ye  have  received  the  law  by  the  disposition  of  angels, 
and  have  not  kept  it ! "  exclaimed  Stephen  before  the 
Council ;  and  they  were  cut  to  the  heart,  gnashing  on  him 
with  their  teeth,  (Acts  vii.  53,  54.)  How  deeply  the  arrow 
of  this  word  penetrated  into  Saul's  heart,  we  may  gather 
from  the  manner  in  which,  about  sixteen  *  years  after,  he 
alludes  to  the  same  glorious  manifestation  of  the  law  upon 
Sinai,  (Gal.  iii.  19 ;  cf.  also  Heb.  ii.  2.)  Stephen's  whole 
speech  was  of  a  nature  to  stir  to  the  utmost  the  enmity 
against  Jesus  and  His  followers  in  the  heart  of  our  pharisaic 
zealot  for  God,  for  His  law,  and  His  people;  for,  while 
ascribing  to  God's  gracious  choice  and  forbearing  mercy 
alone  all  the  glory  shining  through  Israel's  history,  Stephen, 
with  all  the  fire  of  a  holy  zeal  for  God,  renewed  the  cutting 
arraimment  of  God's  servant  of  old  as^ainst  the  rebellious 
children  of  Israel,  ''  Understand,  therefore,  that  the  Lord 
thy  God  givetli  thee  not  this  good  land  to  possess  it  for 

*  This  period  is  evidently  too  short.  From  Gal.  i.  17,  18,  and  ii.  1, 
more  than  seventeen  years  must  have  elapsed  between  Acts  ix.  and  xv. 
And  supposing  Paul's  stay  at  Antioch  (xv.  38)  ever  so  short,  and  his  epistle 
written  after  his  first  visit  to  Galatia,  (xvi.  6,)  during  his  stay  at  Corinth, 
(xviii.  11,)  a  period  of  very  near  tv^enty  year's  must  lie  between  Stephen's 
martyrdom  and  Paul's  Epistle  to  the  Galatians.— Tr. 


24  ST  PAUL. 

thy  righteousness ;  for  thou  art  a  stiff-necked  people.  Ye 
have  been  rebellious  against  God  from  the  day  that  I  knew 
you/"'  (Deut.  ix.  6,  24;  cf.  Acts  vii.  51.)  The  very  privi- 
leges of  which  the  Jews  were  so  proud,  (Eom.  ix.  4,  5)  he 
arrayed  as  witnesses  against  a  disobedient  and  gainsaying 
people  :  They  are  of  Israel,  but  not  of  the  faith  of  Abra- 
ham; theirs  is  the  adoption,  but  they  deny  and  betray 
to  the  heathen  the  mystery  of  it,  as  did  their  fathers; 
theirs  is  the  glory,  and  they  profane  and  desecrate  the 
Temple  of  God ;  the  covenant,  and  of  its  ordinances,  circum- 
cision and  the  passover,  they  make  a  false  trust  for  their 
uncircumcised  and  unbelieving  hearts ;  the  law,  and  they 
have  neither  kept  it,  nor  known  and  acknowledged,  as  its 
fulfiUer,  Him  of  whom  Moses  testified ;  the  service  of  God, 
and  instead  of  redeeming  mercy,  they  rejoice  in  the  sacri- 
fices of  their  own  hand;  the  promises,  and  they  believe 
them  not ;  theirs  are  the  fathers,  and  verily  they  are  the 
children  of  those  their  fathers,  who  envied  Joseph,  and 
sold  him  into  Egypt,  "  but  God  was  with  him ; "  finally, 
from  them  came  Christ,  "  who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  for 
ever;''  and  Stephen  thus  accuses  them:  ''Which  of  the 
prophets  have  not  your  fathers  persecuted  ?  And  they  have 
slain  them  which  shewed  before  of  the  coming  of  the  Just 
One ;  of  whom  ye  have  been  now  the  betrayers  and  mur- 
derers." 

Saul  lived  heart  and  soul  in  the  history  of  his  nation. 
He  now  saw  the  sanctuary  of  his  holy  devotion  defamed 
and  condemned,  and  the  whole  fabric  of  his  pharisaic 
notions  of  national  glory  torn  and  shattered.  Let  no  one 
wonder,  then,  that  Stephen's  speech  went  like  a  sharp  saw 
through  his  very  heart.  While  accusing  the  holy  Phari- 
sees, one  and  all,  of  injustice  and  the  breach  of  the  law, 
Stephen  had  called  Jesus  the  "  Just  One  ;  "  and  therewith 
had  struck  wounds  into  Saul's  conscience,  to  bind  up  wdiich, 


THE  PERSECUTOR.  25 

his  tormented  soul  would  labour  day  and  night.  To  the 
heart  of  this  youthful  zealot,  before  whose  zeal  people  were 
■  already  bowing,  the  conviction  would  come  home  witli 
irresistible  force  :  Either  Stephen  or  I ;  there  can  be  no 
compromise  between  us ;  either  Stephen  has  spoken  the 
truth,  and  then  I  am  lost  and  undone,  or  I  have  been 
rightly  instructed  in  history  and  Holy  Writ,  and  then  this 
Jesus  of  ISTazareth  must  have  been  a  false  prophet,  and  his 
disciple  is  guilty  of  death.  A  last  struggle  this  decision 
would  inevitably  cost  him  ;  but  so  strongly  was  the  notion 
of  pharisaic  sanctity  engrained  in  his  flesh,  that  with 
prayerful  imprecations  in  Jehova's  name  he  would  soon  be 
led  to  reject,  as  a  fiendish  temptation,  every  doubt  as  to 
the  correctness  of  the  historical  authorities  represented  by 
the  heads  of  his  nation.  Thus  his  rencontre  with  Stephen 
would  form  an  important  turning  point  in  Saul's  life,  and 
serve  to  hasten  to  its  last  climax  his  inveterate  zeal  against 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  His  followers.  From  this  time,  then, 
he  was  resolved  to  ''  persecute  this  way  unto  the  death." 
To  serve  the  God  of  his  fathers  was  a  life  and  death  ques- 
tion with  him,  and  the  one  point  at  stake  was.  Who  is  that 
God  ?  Is  it  He  who  in  His  Christ  upon  the  cross  has  held 
judgment  over  the  sins  of  the  world,  "to  declare  His 
righteousness,"  which  no  flesh,  not  even  that  of  Israel,  can 
satisfy,  but  which  requires  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  Christ's 
blood,  in  order  to  save  by  grace  those  who  believe  in  Him ; 
or  is  it  He  who  will  send  His  Christ  to  defy  the  lawless 
heathen,  and  rescue  from  their  oppression  His  chosen  people, 
keeping  the  law  in  righteousness,  and  to  whom,  in  reward 
for  their  obedience.  He  will  give  the  world  for  a  possession  ? 
Is  it  He  who,  upon  the  instigation  of  the  Jews,  has  delivered 
His  Christ  into  the  hands  of  the  Gentiles  to  be  scourged  and 
crucified  by  order  of  Pontius  Pilate,  before  whom  He  de- 
clared that  His  kingdom  was  not  of  this  world,  and  thereby 


26  ST  PAUL. 

traced  His  people's  way  through  it  to  be  likewise  one  of 
suffering  and  death  ?  or  is  it  He  who  will  send  His  Christ 
to  "judge  the  world  with  righteousness  and  the  people  with 
His  truth,"  (Ps.  xcvi.  13,)  but  establish  for  His  own  the 
kingdom  of  Israel  in  cloudless  glory  ?  Finally,  is  it  He 
who  has  sent  the  Spirit  of  His  Christ — now  exalted  to  His 
right  hand  in  heaven — into  the  hearts  of  His  people,  that  they 
should  serve  Him,  whose  "  kingdom  is  not  meat  and  drink, 
but  righteousness  and  peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost," 
and  that,  living  in  hope  of  becoming  "joint-heirs  with 
Christ,"  they  should  reckon  the  sufferings  of  this  present 
time  as  not  worthy  to  be  compared  with  the  glory  whicli 
shall  be  revealed  in  them,"  (Kom.  viii.  17,  18)  ;  or  is  it  He 
who  will  make  His  Christ  appear  to  His  chosen  people  in 
visible  and  palpable  glory,  and  so  save  all  Israel  at  once 
by  transforming  her  present  state  of  helpless  servitude  into 
one  of  kingly  rule  and  heavenly  felicity,  thus  fulfilling  the 
prayer  of  our  fathers,  "  Oh  that  the  salvation  of  Israel  were 
come  out  of  Zion  1  When  the  Lord  bringeth  back  the 
captivity  of  His  people,  Jacob  shall  rejoice,  and  Israel  shall 
be  glad,"  (Ps.  xiv.  7.)  In  his  zeal  for  the  glory  of  the  law, 
Saul  persecuted  Him  who  bore  the  curse  of  the  law ;  in 
his  enthusiasm  for  the  national  honour  of  Israel,  he  per- 
secuted ''  the  glory  of  Irael,"  (Luke  ii.  32,)  whom  Pilate  in 
mockery  styled  "  the  King  of  the  Jews ;"  and  in  his  carnal- 
minded  enmity  to  a  life  of  faith  he  persecuted  "  the  Author 
and  Finisher  of  our  faith,"  whose  "  kingdom  is  not  of  this 
world." 

"But  Stephen,  being  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  looked  sted- 
fastly  into  heaven,  and  saw  the  glory  of  God,  and  Jesus 
standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God,  and  said.  Behold  I  see 
the  heavens  opened,  and  the  Son  of  man  standing  on  the 
right  hand  of  God  :"  while  to  the  eyes  of  the  Jews  the 
heavens  were  closed,  whither  Jesus  had  ascended,  whose 


THE  PERSECUTOR.  27 

glory  they  knew  not,  (1  Cor.  ii.  8.)  And  shutting  their  en- 
raged ears,  they  "  ran  upon  him  Yv^ith  one  accord,  and  cast 
him  out  of  the  city,  and  stoned  him ; "  and  the  witnesses 
of  his  supposed  blasphemy,  whose  office  it  was  to  cast  the 
first  stone,  prepared  for  their ''divine  service,"  (Johnxvi.  2,) 
by  laying  down  their  clothes  at  a  young  man's  feet,  who 
was  the  very  soul  of  this  zealous  deed — even  our  youthful 
Saul  ''  the  persecutor."  * 

"  In  all  stones  they  throw  at  Stephen 
Saul's  soul  rages,  more  than  even 
Theirs  whose  clothes  lie  at  his  feet. 
While  to  die  is  sweet  to  Stephen, 
For  he  sees  in  open  heaven 
Jesus  whom  his  soul  shall  meet." 

Adam  de  St  Victor. 

"  Saul  was  consenting  unto  his  death,"  writes  St  Luke 
(Acts  viii.  1,)  and  Paul,  upon  his  being  won  by  Christ,  thus 
expresses  to  the  Lord  Himself  the  feeling  at  his  once  un- 
happy participation  in  this  scene,  "  And  when  the  blood 
of  thy  martyr  Stephen  was  shed,  I  also  was  standing  by, 
and  consenting  unto  his  death,  and  kept  the  raiment  of  them 
that  slew  him,"  (Acts  xxii.  20.)  Were  some  Jews,  if  not 
most,  short-sighted  enough  to  imagine  Stephen  as  possessed 
of  a  different  spirit  from  that  of  the  rest  of  Christ's  disciples, 
Saul,  with  his  penetrating  eye,  knew  better  than  to  think 
that  the  grave  of  this  one  would  close  over  the  name  of 
the  Nazarene,  unless  every  one  of  "  this  way  "  could  be  de- 
stroyed with  him ;  and  therefore  he  owns  long  after,  before 
King  Agrippa,  ''  I  verily  thought  with  myself  that  I  ought 
to  do  many  things  contrary  to  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 

*  The  celebrated  Spanish  painter  Yicente  Joannes  has  represented  Saul 
as  walking  at  the  martyr's  side  lost  in  profound  meditation,  in  striking 
contrast  with  the  wild  rabble.  Fervent  devotion  is  painted  on  his  face, 
and  upon  his  brow  falls  apparently  from  far  off  a  ray  of  light  that  beams 
from  Stephen's  face  (Acts  vi.  15  ;)  but  which,  with  as  much  difficulty  as 
determination,  he  evidently  forces  himself  to  ward  off. 


28  ST  PAUL. 

reth,"  (Acts  xxvi.  9,)  and  the  "ravening  wolf"  of  the  tribe 
of  Benjamin  (Gen.  xlix.  27,)  deemed  it  a  "profiting  in  the 
Jews'  religion  "  when  he  "  persecuted  the  church  of  God 
and  wasted  it/'  (Gal.  i.  13,  14.)  And  such  was  the  influ- 
ence which  Saul — a  man  already  even  in  his  youth — 
exercised  over  the  minds  of  the  people,  who  hitherto — from 
the  powerful,  heavenly  demonstrations  in  their  behalf — 
had  evidently  regarded  the  Apostles  and  their  work  with 
reverential  awe,  if  not  with  favour,  (Acts  ii.  47,  iii.  9-11, 
iv.  21,  V.  13,  26,)  that  from  Stephen's  martyrdom  he  car- 
ried them  away  to  a  general  persecution,  he  himself  their 
leader,  ''  making  havoc  of  the  Church,  entered  into  every 
house,  and  haling  men  and  women,  committed  them  to 
prison,  and  when  they  were  put  to  death,  he  gave  his 
voice  against  them ; "  yea  and  "  oft  in  every  synagogue  "  he 
punished  and  "  compelled  them  to  blaspheme,"  thus  becom- 
ing a  murderer  of  their  souls  also.  ISTor  did  it  satisfy  his 
blind  zeal  for  the  honour  of  God  and  His  law  to  persecute  and 
destroy  "  this  way  "  in  Jerusalem  only,  but  "  being  exceed- 
ingly mad  against  them,"  he  applied  for  warrants  to  the 
chief  priests — to  whose  Sadducean  lukewarmness  in  the 
cause,  the  fiery  Saul  might  be  now  becoming  rather  irk- 
some at  Jerusalem — and  went  with  them,  destroying  the 
churches  where  he  came,  ''even  unto  strange  cities,"  as  far 
as  Damascus,  whence  from  the  ''  scattered  "  flock  of  Christ 
rays  of  light  were  already  spreading  abroad  into  heathen 
countries,  (Acts  viii.  3,  4,  ix.  1,  2,  xxii.  4,  5,  xxvi.  9-11.) 

Not  only  in  his  defences  made  at  Jerusalem,  first  before 
the  people,  (from  the  stairs  of  the  chief  captain's  castle, 
Acts  xxi.  37, 40,)  and  next  before  Festus  and  King  Agrippa, 
does  the  Apostle  speak  of  his  former  benighted  life,  into 
which  the  light  of  grace  fell  from  heaven,  but  also  in  his 
epistles  he  repeatedly  calls  to  mind  the  remembrance  of 
his  shame,  which  he  had  once  accounted  honour.     How- 


THE  PERSECUTOK.  29 

ever  much  he  had  learnt  to  detest  it  now — having  become 
dead  unto  sin — yet  the  memory  of  his  heinous  guilt  and 
disgrace  would  ever  revive,  to  serve  him  as  a  continual 
cause  for  deep  humiliation ;  and  divine  grace  would  indeed 
shine  all  the  brighter  upon  the  dark  background  of  nature's 
disgrace,  to  the  eternal  praise  of  God's  mercy  in  Christ. 
Where  he  most  extols  his  office,  and  confesses  what  Christ 
has  wrought  through  him,  he  also  bows  lowest  under  an 
overwhelming  sense  of  the  grace  shewn  unto  him,  and 
writes,  "  I  am  the  least  of  the  apostles,  that  am  not  meet 
to  be  called  an  apostle,  because  I  persecuted  the  church  of 
God,"  (1  Cor.  XV.  9 ;  cf  Eph.  iii.  8.)  An  "  untimely  birth  " 
he  calls  himself,  not  only  "  as  one  born  out  of  due  time," 
(1  Cor.  XV.  8,)  but  also  as  being,  by  the  skilful  hand  of 
Jesus,  the  heavenly  physician,  withdrawn  ("  separated,"  if 
not  torn)  from  the  bosom  of  false  Judaism.  The  Gala- 
tians — who,  through  some  Judaisers  that  troubled  them, 
were  led  to  look  upon  the  Apostle's  gospel  of  Christian 
liberty  as  human — he  reminds  of  his  "  conversation  in  time 
past  in  the  Jewish  religion,"  from  which  neither  himself 
nor  any  man,  but  solely  the  grace  of  God,  "  by  the  reve- 
lation of  Jesus  Christ,"  had  delivered  him,  (Gal.  i.  11,  &c.) 
Above  all,  to  Timothy,  his  "  own  son  in  the  faith,"  the 
Apostle  pours  out  his  whole  heart.  Being  deeply  solicitous 
that  he  should  hold  fast  the  form  of  sound  words,  ''  which 
he  had  heard  of  him,  "  in  faith  and  love  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  he  draws  for  Timothy,  in  his  own  inimitable  man- 
ner, the  picture  of  that  man  from  whom  he  had  learnt 
Christ,  and  to  whose  ''trust  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the 
blessed  God  had  been  committed."  "  I  thank  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord,"  he  writes,  "  who  hath  enabled  me,  for  that  he 
counted  me  faithful,  putting  me  into  the  ministry ;  who 
was  before  a  blasphemer,  and  a  persecutor,  and  injurious ; 
but  I  obtained  mercy,  because  I  did  it  ignorantly  in  un- 


30  ST  PAUL. 

belief.  And  the  grace  of  our  Lord  was  exceeding  abundant, 
with  faith  and  love  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  This  is  a 
faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,"that  Christ 
Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  of  whom  I  am 
chief.  Howbeit  for  this  cause  I  obtained  mercy,  that  in 
me  first  Jesus  Christ  might  shew  forth  all  long-suffering 
for  a  pattern  to  them  which  should  hereafter  believe  on 
him  to  life  everlasting,"  (1  Tim.  i.  12-16.) 

Stephen's  dying  prayer,  "  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin  to  their 
charge,"  could  be  answered  for  Saul  the  persecutor,  because 
he  was  one  of  those  for  whom  Christ  prayed  upon  the 
cross,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do."  St  Paul  was  far  from  entertaining  the  ungodly  notion 
that,  because,  as  persecutor,  he  had,  to  the  best  of  his  con- 
science, acted  in  accordance  with  his  conviction,  therefore 
his  ''zeal  to  God,"  though  "not  according  to  knowledge," 
(Eom.  X.  2,)  had  availed  aught  before  Him  in  procuring  his 
favour  and  acceptance.  No,  rather  his  conscience,  when 
''purified  by  faith,"  accused  him  of  damnable  sin,  from 
which  Christ,  of  His  own  mere  grace,  had  saved  him.  ' '  But  I 
obtained  mercy,"  he  says,  "  because,  being  ignorant,  I  did 
it  in  unbelief."  To  this  we  firmly  hold,  while  seeing  in  the 
persecutor's  zeal  the  spirit  of  the  iron-hearted  Jew  and  war- 
like Benjamite,  which,  sanctified  by  grace,  made  him  the 
champion  he  became  in  the  cause  of  Christ.  Nearer,  in- 
deed, to  the  kingdom  of  God,  was  Saul  tlie  persecutor,  than 
is  that  lukewarm  generation  of  worldlings,  who,  either  from 
drowsy  indifference,  or  absorption  in  material  interests,  will 
never  be  at  the  pains  of  troubling  the  Church  of  Christ. 
In  the  burning  zeal  and  thorough  earnestness  wherewith 
Saul  consumed  himself,  as  he  "was  breathing  out  threaten- 
ings  and  slaughter  against  the  disciples  of  the  Lord,"  (Acts 
ix.  1 ;)  in  the  manly  firmness  wherewith  he  concentrated 
all  upon  this  one  thing,  the  extirpation  of  the  followers  of 


THE  PEESECUTOE.  31 

the  Cross,  as  the  arch-enemies  to  his  arch-Judaism,  there 
were  mightily  though  mistakenly  ("  in  unbelief  ")  at  work 
those  vigorous  natural  powers  he  bore  along  from  his 
mother's  womb,  which,  turned  by  grace  into  their  right 
direction,  (faith  in  Christ,)  made  him  the  unswerving  sol- 
dier and  herald  of  the  Cross.  Luther,  in  his  naive  manner, 
says,  ''  Now,  when  Saul  took  the  matter  so  to  heart,  the 
Lord  Jesus  had  His  thoughts  about  it,  and  said  to  Himself, 
'  Wait  a  little,  that  man  will  turn  out  well ;  for  what  he 
does,  he  does  in  right  earnest.  The  fervour  he  now  shews  in 
a  bad  cause,  I  will  still  increase  by  my  Spirit,  and  apply  to 
a  good  cause.  He  shall  preach  of  me  among  the  Gentiles, 
which  shall  stir  up  the  Jews,  as  they  deserve,  to  become 
quite  mad  and  foolish,  as  he  himself  has  hitherto  been.' 
Just  as  our  Lord  God  uses  me  now  against  the  Pope  and 
his  band,  for  whom  formerly  I  would  have  gone  through 
the  fire,  and  now  none  fights  more  bitterly  against  them." 
ISTot  forgetting  what  once  he  was,  Paul  enters,  with  as 
much  meekness  as  firmness,  upon  his  new  path  full  of 
thorns,  where  step  by  step,  and  on  all  sides,  he  is  met  by 
the  same  pharisaic  spirit  of  persecution  he  himself  had 
heretofore  displayed.  View  him  at  Jerusalem  under  the 
murderous  blows  of  his  blind  countrymen,  whose  souls  he 
is  seeking  to  win  in  tenderest  and  devoted  love.  Hear 
him  as,  standing  before  an  enraged  multitude,  (Acts  xxi. 
35,  &c.,)  he  wins  their  silence  by  his  meek  address,  (Acts 
xxii.  1,  &c.),  "  Men,  brethren,  and  fathers,"  and  then  con- 
tinues, "  I  was  zealous  towards  God,  as  ye  all  are  this  day,  \ 
and  I  persecuted  this  way  unto  the  death."  This  meek- 
ness Paul  learnt  in  the  school  of  Christ's  Spirit,  who  re- 
minded him  of  his  own  past  life,  of  abounding  sin,  and  of 
far  more  abounding  grace. 

Saul's  zeal  grew  rage,  and  this  to  slaughter  led ; 
Nor  would  aught  give  content  to  his  fierce  soul 


32  ST  PAUL. 

But  persecution  to  the  very  death, 

Till  of  that  way  he  had  destroy' d  the  whole. 

And  this  dread  zeal  was  with  religion  pair'd  : 

For  thus  he  thought  to  serve  his  people's  God. 

"  In  ignorance,"  as  after  he  declared, 

"  And  unbelief,"  he  trod  this  fearful  road. 

But  Satan  should  not  triumph  over  Saul ; 

For  we  shall  witness  next  his  heavenly  call. 


THE  WON  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS.  33 


IV. 

THE  WON  OF  THE  LOED  JESUS, 

"  Where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  much  more  abound,"—  Rom,  v,  20, 

Ambrose  calls  the  conversion  of  Paul  the  most  glorious 
deed  of  Christ  the  King — next  to  the  outpouring  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Glorious,  indeed,  in  its  fruit — the  gathering 
of  the  Gentiles  into  the  fold  of  Christ,  through  the  gospel 
of  His  grace  preached  by  this  child  of  grace ;  and  glorious 
also  in  the  sovereign  power  of  Divine  grace  which  wrought 
it,  and  became  the  inexhaustible  theme  of  praise  in  the 
mouth  of  this  won  one  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

How  great  PauFs  conversion  and  call  was  in  the  eyes 
of  St  Luke,  is  clear  from  his  thrice  recounting  its  history 
with  evident  delight :  once  in  the  thread  of  his  own  narra- 
tive, where  the  patient  sun,  that  has  sent  forth  his  first 
rays  of  the  evangelical  day  over  the  Jewish  nation,  begins 
already  to  draw  toward  evening  for  that  nation ;  and  twice 
in  the  great  Apostle's  defence  of  the  Gospel  at  Jerusalem, 
where  night  is  already  fast  closing  in  upon  them,  (Acts  ix., 
xxii.,  XX vi.)  Let  us  take  a  connected  review  of  this  three- 
fold account. 

It  was  not,  we  may  be  sure,  without  heartfelt  tlianks  to 
God  for  thus  permitting  him  to  do  Him  service,  (John  xvi, 
2,)  that  Saul,  furnished  with  commissions  from  the  high 
priest,  entered  upon  the  honourable  mission  of  tlie  Jewish 
holy  inquisition — to  go  abroad  after  Christ's  disciples,  hal- 

c 


34  ST  PAUL. 

ing  men  and  women,  and  bringing  them  bound  unto  Jeru- 
lem.  But,  lo !  as  lie  sped  on  his  way  to  Damascus,  and 
drew  nigh  to  the  city,  suddenty,  about  noon,  there  shined 
round  about  him  a  light  from  heaven,  above  the  brightness 
of  the  sun.  It  was  even  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  tlie  same 
whom  Stephen  saw  in  the  opened  heavens,  standing  on 
God's  right  hand,  who  now  appeared  to  Saul,  (1  Cor.  ix. 
1,  XV.  8,)  dazzling  his  eyes  wdtli  the  glorious  light  of  His 
countenance.  They  also  that  were  with  him  saw  indeed  the 
light,  before  wdiich  the  noontide  sun  grew  pale,  but  they 
saw  no  man ;  they  heard  the  sound  of  a  voice,  "  but  they 
heard  not,"  St  Paul  says,  ''  the  voice  of  Him  that  spake  to 
me."  "  And  when  we  were  all  fallen  to  the  ground,"  he 
continues,  "  I  heard  a  voice  speaking  unto  me,  and  saying 
in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou 
me  ? "  So,  then,  He  whom  Saul  persecutes  is  throned  in 
heaven;  and  Stephen  spoke  the  truth;  Saul  is  the  man 
of  death!  and  yet  he  lives;  the  glare  of  His  heavenly 
majesty  hath  darted  upon,  but  not  slain  him.  "Why  per- 
secutest thou  me  ? "  In  this  appeal  to  Saul's  heart,  of 
Him  who  is  glorious  and  terrible,  is  blended  the  voice  of 
mercy.  "What  have  I  done  unto  thee,  0  my  people  ?  and 
wherein  have  I  w^earied  thee  ?  testify  against  me,"  (Micah 
vi.  3.)  Crushed  by  the  overwhelming  sense  of  his  extreme 
guiltiness,  Saul  lay  prostrate  in  the  dust,  yet  upheld  and 
drawn,  at  the  same  time,  by  the  arms  of  that  long-suffering 
mercy,  which  hereafter  he  knows  so  well  to  exhibit  to  his 
unhappy  brethren  according  to  the  flesli,  (Eom.  x.  21.) 
The  mystery  of  that  grace  which,  without  coercing,  draws 
with  irresistible  force— which  wins  and  conquers  by  no 
other  weapons  than  those  of  tender  intreaty  and  imploring 
love — now  began  to  dawn  upon  Saul's  mind,  as  he  ven- 
tured to  put  the  question,  "Who  art  thou.  Lord?"  That 
He  who  from  heaven   called   him   by  name,  and  whose 


THE  WON  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS.  35 

glory  he  saw,  was  the  Lord,  the  living  God,  he  was  sure 
enough,  and  needed  no  further  proof;  but  that  it  was  He 
whom  he  had  been  persecuting,  this  thought  seized  him 
like  a  stroke  of  lightning,  falling  on  him  unawares,  and 
penetrating  to  his  very  inmost  soul.  Him  whose  name  he 
has  cursed,  and  whom  he  has  persecuted  as  a  blasphemer, 
he  now  beholds  in  heavenly  glory,  yea,  and  hears  Him 
pronounce  His  own  name — "  I  am  Jesus  whom  thoUper- 
secutest," — that  name  above  every  name,  (Phil.  ii.  10,*)  by 
which  He  is  worshipped  and  adored,  both  in  heaven  and 
earth,  as  the  Lord  and  Saviour  of  His  believing  people, 
"  who,  crucified  through  weakness,  liveth  by  the  power  of 
God,"  (2  Cor.  xiii.  4,)  and  out  of  His  own  mouth  ("Why 
persecutest  thou  me.?")  he  now  learns  that  "great  mystery  " 
of  the  oneness  of  "  Christ  and  the  Church,"  (Eph.  v.  32 ;) 
He  the  head,  she  the  body,  and  believers  on  earth  "  mem- 
bers in  particular  of  the  body  of  Christ,"  (1  Cor.  xii.  27) — 
a  favourite  subject  henceforth  of  the  Apostle's  teaching 
and  devout  adoration.  How  may  the  exalted  Saviour  have 
looked  upon  this  fruit  "of  the  travail  of  His  soul;"  the 
youth  of  His  choice,  whom  He  had  "  loved  with  an  ever- 
lasting love,"  and  was  now  drawing  to  Himself  "  with  the 
cords  of  love ! "  And  Stephen,  was  he  permitted,  too,  to 
look  down  upon  this  "  strong  one  "  whom  Jesus  took  for 
His  ''  spoil "  that  day  ?  More  than  the  angels  of  God  must 
he  have  rejoiced  at  this  first-fruit  of  his  martyrdom.  But 
Satan  must  have  beheld  with  rage  and  gnashing  of  teeth 
this  victory  of  the  Lord  Jesus ;  nor  would  he  stand  an  idle 
beholder  of  the  scene,  but  summon  to  his  aid  the  art  of 
hell,  for  in  this  one  prey  he  would  lose  a  thousand,  yea, 
countless  legions  in  the  lapse  of  time.  And  Jesus,  on  His 
part,  will  not  triumph  over  him  by  some  enchantment,  as 
it  were,  of  Saul,  stronger  than  Satan's ;  but  says  to  His 
won  one,  "  It  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against  the  pricks." 


36  ST  PAUL. 

Hard,  yet  not  impossible.  This  Saul  has  clearly  learnt, 
for  he  says,  '*  I  was  not  disobedient  to  the  heavenly  voice  ;  " 
which  he  might  have  been,  had  he  not  at  once  "  brought 
into  captivity  every  thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ,'' 
(2  Cor.  X.  5,)  and  resisted  the  serpent's  subtle  beguilement 
to  ''corrupt  his  mind  from  the  simplicity  in  Christ,"  (2 
Cor.  xi.  3.)  Against  the  pricks  of  Divine  wrath  Saul  had 
hitherto  kicked.  Like  as  the  ox  kicks  against  the  staff"  of  the 
driver,  so  Saul  had  been  kicking  against  the  deadly  pricks 
of  the  law,  which  entered  but  the  more  deeply  into  his 
flesh  the  more  he  endeavoured  to  satisfy  Divine  justice 
by  a  self-acquired  unblamable  righteousness.  But  now  the 
grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus  would  make  it  too  hard  for  him 
any  longer  to  continue  this  suicidal  labour.  The  pricks  of 
the  avenger  are  broken  in  the  flesh  of  Christ  crucified,  who 
in  His  own  body  upon  the  cross  has  "  slain  the  enmity 
thereby,"  (Eph.  ii.  16.)  So  long  as  Saul  persecuted  Jesus 
he  wanted  to  redeem  his  own  soul,  which  costs  too  much, 
"  so  that  he  must  let  that  alone  for  ever,"  (Ps.  xlix.  8, 
Prayer  Book  transl.)  But  now  it  came  to  a  happy  crisis, 
a  solution  worth  the  whole  world,  (Matt.  xvi.  26.)  In  the 
death  of  Christ  there  now  appeared  to  him  the  end  of  the 
law  warring  against  the  sinner,  and  in  His  resurrection 
the  entering  in  of  that  righteousness  which  both  satisfies 
God  and  gives  peace  to  the  sinner  that  believeth  in  Christ, 
(Eom.  iii.  26,  iv.  25,  v.  1 ;  Eph.  ii.  17.)  But  ere  Paul 
could  attain  to  the  blessed  experience  of  being  "  dead  with 
Christ,  and  buried  with  Him  in  baptism,"  Said  had  first  to 
taste  that  bitter  dying  described  in  Eom.  vii.  9-11,  "And  I 
died."  Here,  before  the  gates  of  Damascus — "  smitten  to  ■ 
the  ground  by  the  law,"  as  Luther  says — he  felt  its  sharp- 
pointed  arrow  fasten  deep  into  his  heart ;  he  was  accursed, 
and  deserved  to  hang  on  that  tree  where  Jesus  his  Saviour 
hung  for  him.     Will  he  still  kick  against  the  pricks,  now 


THE  WON  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS.  37 

that  he  has  beheld  the  law  which  ''worketh  wrath"  in  the 
light  of  overpowering  grace  ?  No,  it  has  become  too  hard 
for  him.  Trembling  and  astonished,  but  withal  still  bent 
upon  penitential  obedience,  he  cries  out,  "Lord,  what  wilt 
thou  have  me  to  do  ? "  In  this  hour  of  anguish,  "  as  the 
terrors  of  God  flashed  through  his  soul,"  it  would  surely 
have  been  the  greatest  relief  to  him,  had  the  Lord  exacted 
of  him  a  penitence  and  satisfaction  ever  so  bitter  and 
severe.  In  none  of  these,  however,  but  solely  in  the  all- 
availing  sacrifice  and  satisfaction  made  by  Jesus  Christ 
once  for  all  upon  the  cross,  could  he  find  rest;  and  he  has 
found  it.  It  was  only  by  opening  his  sad  heart  to  this 
same  Jesus,  that  he  felt  his  own  sins  also  were  atoned  for 
and  cancelled.  With  encouraging  gentleness.,  the  Lord  then 
bids  him  "  rise  and  stand  upon  his  feet;"  but  forthwith,  to 
test  his  obedience,  He  adds  :  "  And  go  into  the  city,  and 
it  shall  be  told  thee  what  thou  must  do."  In  thus  com- 
missioning him  to  apply  for  instruction  to  the  believers  at 
Damascus,  those  very  people  he  had  hitherto  persecuted, 
the  Lord  greatly  honoured  His  Church,  and  vindicated  to 
her  the  high  office  and  blessed  privilege  of  dispensing  to 
sinners  the  means  of  His  grace.  In  the  Church  only  would 
He  be  found  of  him  with  absolution  to  eternal  peace.* 
And  with  such  docility  did  Saul  enter  into  this  Divine 
order  of  grace,  and  so  completely  does  Paul  afterwards 
identify  Christ  and  the  Church,  that  in  his  speech  before 
Agrippa  he  passes  the  mediating  Ananias  clean  by,  and 
affirms  to  have  heard  of  Jesus  what  Ananias  told  him  in 
His  name.-j- 

On  rising  from  the  ground,  Saul  perceived  that  he  was 

*  Once  for  all,  I  here  repeat — what  impliedly  I  have  averred  in  my  pre- 
fatory remark  on  the  subject — that  I  do  not  concur  in  the  author's  High 
Church  views. — Tr. 

t  Great  nicety  linked  with  ingenuity.— Tr. 


38  ST  PAUL. 

blind.  Hitlierto  he  had  said,  "  I  see,"  (John  ix.  41 ;)  now 
he  finds  his  spiritual  blindness  portrayed  upon  his  bodily 
eyes,  which  are  blinded  by  the  glory  of  the  heavenly  vision. 
In  this  pitiable  plight,  yet  resigned  to  Jesus's  custody,  he 
is  led  by  the  hands  of  his  astounded  companions,  and 
brought  into  Damascus.  The  wolf  is  turned  into  a  lamb. 
"And  he  was  three  days  without  sight,  and  neither  did 
eat  nor  drink," — seeking  and  finding  the  more  food  for 
his  hungry  soul  in  the  Word  of  God  and  the  teaching  of 
His  Church ;  yea,  while  his  bodily  eyes  failed  him,  his 
inner  eyes  would  open  to  the  voice  of  the  prophets,  giving 
him  answer  to  the  Lord's  question  :  "  Saul,  Saul,  why 
persecutest  thou  me?"  and  in  the  penitential  psalms  he 
would  find  the  fittest  utterance  for  his  unutterable  woe. 
"  We  know  that  the  law  is  spiritual ;  but  I  am  carnal,  sold 
under  sin,"  (Eom.  vii.  14.)  This  knowledge  of  a  contrite 
sinner  was  now  beaming  upon  him  in  the  light  of  that 
transcendent  fact — that  He  who  had  hung  upon  the  ac- 
cursed tree  \vas  now  exalted  to  heavenly  glory  and  Divine 
majesty.  Now  he  had  torn  from  his  bleeding  heart  "what 
things  were  gain"  to  him,  (Phil.  iii.  7;)  and,  dying,  waited 
for  His  help,  who  by  His  -word,  "  I  am  Jesus  !"  had  already 
breathed  on  him  the  Spirit  of  life.  Saul  spent  three  days 
of  anguish  in  the  deep  ere  he  ascended  to  the  height. 
''  Behold,  he  prayeth,"  said  the  Lord,  by  way  of  encourage- 
ment to  Ananias,  who  still  dreaded  the  man  of  slaughter. 
"Behold,  he  prayeth;"  a  precious  word,  as  it  proves  to  us 
that  the  humble  prayer  of  a  contrite  sinner  goes  direct  to 
the  heart  of  Jesus  in  heaven,  who  enlists  for  the  penitent 
the  sympathy  of  His  believing  children  on  earth,  yea,  and 
the  service  of  His  swift-flying  angels  in  heaven,  (Dan.  ix. 
20-23.)  The  Lord  answering  Saul's  prayer  through  the 
mouth  of  a  "  disciple  "  and  fellow-sinner  does  not  contra- 
dict Gal.  i.  11,  12,  where  Paul  declared  that  the  Gospel  he 


THE  WON  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS.  39 

preached  he  had  neither  received  of  man,  nor  been  taught 
it,  but  by  the  revelation  of  Jesus  Christ.  For  the  sub- 
stance of  his  preaching  to  others — viz.,  the  Gospel  of  the 
grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ — was  indeed  communicated 
to  him  by  the  revelation  of  that  same  Jesus  who  appeared 
unto  him  from  heaven  ;  but  of  his  own  pardon  and  accept- 
ance by  Him  through  the  same  grace  he  was  to  receive  the 
comforting  assurance  in  no  other  v/ay  than  every  other 
sinner  accepted  by  Christ — viz.,  through  the  ordinary  means 
of  grace — the  Word  and  Sacrament.  Also  that  he  might 
receive  again  his  sight  and  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost 
was  Ananias  sent  to  him  from  God.  Yea,  so  highly  did 
the  Lord  honour  His  poor  persecuted  church  at  Damascus, 
that  He  annoimced  to  Ananias,  when  yet  they  were  trem- 
bling at  Saul's  approach,  the  triumph  of  His  grace  over 
this  persecutor  of  Himself  in  His  people ;  and  upon  Ana- 
nias still  hesitating,  alleging  in  child-like  simplicity  the 
terror-stirring  accounts  they  had  heard  of  ''  this  man,''  the 
Lord  bids  him  "  Go  thy  way ;  for  he  is  a  chosen  vessel 
unto  me,  to"  bear  my  name  before  the  Gentiles  and  kings 
and  the  children  of  Israel :  For  I  will  shew  him  how  great 
things  he  must  suffer  for  my  name's  sake."  Thus  the  Lord 
not  only  laid  the  new  convert  in  the  arms  of  the  Church, 
but  made  over  to  her  the  "chosen  vessel"  also. 

To  extol  Israel's  glory  in  the  sight  of  'the  heathen  had 
been  Saul's  inmost  desire ;  and  because  he  had  taken  the 
followers  of  Jesus  to  be  the  enemies  to  Israel's  glory, 
therefore  he  had  persecuted  them.  But,  won  himself  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  out  of  the  lost  children  of  Israel,  he  was 
now  to  bear  His  name,  as  the  banner  of  salvation,  before 
the  Gentiles  and  their  kings ;  and,  by  gathering  them  into 
"  the  Israel  of  God,"  he  was  to  provoke  fallen  Israel  to 
rise  again,  (Eom.  xi.  11,  &c.)  That  Christ's  kingdom 
should  be  one  of  suffering  and  death  had  been  his  great 


40  ST  PAUL. 

offence,  because  he  could  not  reconcile  the  Cross  with  the 
carnal  thoughts  of  his  Jewish  prejudices.  But  now  he 
goes  to  "  confirm  tlie  souls  of  the  disciples,  exhorting 
them,  that  we  must  through  much  tribulation  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God,"  (Acts  xiv.  22 ;)  yea,  and  as  their 
ministering  servant  in  Christ,  himself  goes  to  bear  in  his 
own  flesli,  and  that  with  joy,  of  "  the  afflictions  of  Christ," 
which  the  church  militant  has  to  "  fill  up  " — that  mea- 
sure of  suffering  meet  for  so  great  an  apostle,  (Col.  i.  24.) 

Ere  Ananias  entered  the  house  of  Judas  in  the  street 
called  "  Straight"  at  Damascus,  and  inquired  for  one  called 
Saul  of  Tarsus,  the  Lord  had  already  shewn  to  praying 
Saul  in  a  vision  this  very  man  coming  in  and  putting  his 
hand  on  him.  Thus  his  humbly-yielding  soul  was  fully 
prepared  for  the  visit,  and  longed  for  this  messenger  of  his 
Saviour.  ''Brother  Saul,"  said  Ananias,  on  entering  and 
laying  his  hands  on  him,  "  the  Lord,  even  Jesus  that  ap- 
peared unto  thee  in  the  way  as  thou  earnest,  hath  sent 
me  "  (the  good  Shepherd  hath  found  His  sheep  on  the 
way,  beside  a  yawning  precipice)  "  that  thou  mightest  re- 
ceive thy  sight,  and  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost ;"  with 
the  recovery  of  thy  bodily  sight  to  receive  enlightened 
eyes  of  the  mind,  that  thou  mayest  know  the  blessed  hope 
of  the  won  and  called  of  Jesus  Christ.  Then  Saul,  "  look- 
ing up  upon  him,"  heard  this  true  Israelite  further  declare 
unto  him,  "  The  God  of  our  fathers  hath  chosen  thee " 
with  an  everlasting  calling  in  Christ,  "that  thou  shouldest' 
know  His  will "  of  salvation,  carried  into  effect  from  Abra- 
ham's call  down  to  the  raising  up  of  the  horn  of  salvation 
in  the  house  of  his  servant  David,  (Acts  xiii.  16,  &c. ;)  and 
see  that  "  Just  One,"  who  by  His  knowledge  shall  justify 
many,  for  He  shall  bear  their  iniquity,  (Isa.  liii.  11 ;)  and 
shouldest  hear  the  voice  of  His  mouth  for  a  testimony 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  declared  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with 


THE  WON  OF  THE  LORD  JESUS.  41 

power,  (Rom.  i.  4.)  "  For  thou  slialt  be  His  witness  unto 
all  men  of  what  thou  hast  seen  and  heard,  and  of  those 
things  in  the  which  He  will  appear  unto  thee." 

Paul's  apostolic  witness  is  born  out  of  Saul's  inner  his- 
tory ;  it  is  altogether  that  of  his  personal  experience  of  the 
grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  his  Lord.  Bright,  indeed, 
over  his  apostolical  career  do  the  stars  shine  whereby  the 
Lord  so  wonderfully  guided  the  footsteps  of  His  chosen  ser- 
vant from  Jerusalem  even  unto  Eome,  (Acts  xxii.  17;  Gal. 
ii.  2  ;  Acts  xvi.  9,  xviii.  9,  10,  xxiii.  11,  xxvii.  23,  24 ;) 
but  brightest  of  all  shines  that  "  star  out  of  Jacob/'  which 
rose  to  him  on  his  way  to  Damascus,  illuminating  the 
path  of  his  life  throughout  the  marvellous  sphere  of  his 
labour  of  love,  chastening  his  joys,  and  supporting  him 
under  all  afflictions  ;  for  this  star  had  shined  into  his  very 
heart,  (2  Cor.  iv.  6 ;  Gal.  i.  16.)  With  the  testimony  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  who  had  w^on  him,  and  was  "  revealed  in 
him,"  Paul  went  forth — being  delivered  from  the  People, 
who  in  him  thrust  from  them  their  last  saving-angel,  and 
from  all  dangers  among  the  Gentiles,  unto  whom  the  Lord 
now  sent  him — ''  to  open  their  eyes,  and  to  turn  them 
from  darkness  unto  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan 
unto  God,  that  they  might  receive  forgiveness  of  sins,  and 
inheritance  among  them  which  are  sanctified  by  faith  that 
is  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (Acts  xxvi.  18.)  To  this  "inherit- 
ance "  Saul  himself  was  now  being  admitted.  ''  And  now, 
why  tarriest  thou?"  said  Ananias,  (who  saw  him  still 
kneel  in  rapt  amazement  before  the  opened  door  of  hea- 
venly grace.)  "  Arise,  and  be  baptized,  and  v\^ash  away  thy 
sins,  calling  on  the  name  of  the  Lord."  "  And  imme- 
diately," Luke  writes,  ''  there  fell  from  his  eyes  as  it  had 
been  scales ;  and  he  received  sight  forthwith,  and  arose 
and  was  baptized."  With  new  eyes  he  now  beheld  the 
aged  messenger  of  the  Lord  Jesus.     So  he  had  never  be- 


42  ST  PAUL. 

fore  looked  upon  any  of  His  disciples.  Stephen's  angel- 
face  would  again  rise  up  before  his  soul,  and  make  him 
exclaim,  "  0,  that  I  had  known  Thee  sooner,  fairest  of  the 
sons  of  men  ! "  Now  w^as  Saul  planted  in  the  likeness  of 
Christ's  death,  being  "  buried  mtli  Him  by  baptism  ;  that, 
like  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of 
the  Father,  even  so  he  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life," 
(Rom.  vi.  4 ;)  and  now,  having  received  the  spirit  of  adop- 
tion, he  could  with  a  reconciled  conscience  cry,  "  Abba, 
Father."  There  he  stood  now,  the  won  of  the  Lord  Jesus, 
clad  in  the  garments  of  His  salvation,  and  covered  with 
the  robe  of  righteousness,  (Isa.  Ixi.  10.)  "  And  when  he 
had  received  meat,  he  w^as  strengthened."  With  what 
feelings  may  Saul  have  sat  down  and  partaken  of  this  his 
first  meal  with  Christ's  disciples  !  And  if  at  the  close  of 
it  they  ate  the  passover  of  the  New  Testament,  his  heart 
would  indeed  be  drawn  to  the  True  Passover — Christ  slain 
for  sinners, — and  his  overflowing  adoration  might  find 
utterance  in  words  like  these  : — 

"  Hasten  now,  my  soul,  to  meet  Him, 
And  with  loring  reverence  greet  Him, 
AVho  with  words  of  life  immortal 
Now  is  knocking  at  thy  portal ; 
Haste  to  make  for  Him  a  way. 
Cast  thee  at  His  feet  and  say  : 
Since,  0  Lord,  Tliou  com'st  to  me, 
I  will  never  turn  from  Thee  !  " 

There  fell  as  it  had  been  scales  from  Saul's  eyes  imme- 
diately as  he  received  his  sight.  The  "  veil "  was  taken 
away  as  soon  as  his  soul  turned  to  the  Lord,  (2  Cor.  iii.  16.) 
Now  he  understood  Stephen's  speech.  God's  plan  of  Is- 
rael's and  the  world's  redemption,  as  traced  by  this  faith- 
ful witness  through  the  history  of  the  Old  Testament,  now 
stood  in  heavenly  brightness  before  his  unveiled  eyes,  all 


THE  WON  OF  THE  LOKD  JESUS.  43 

illuminated  by  that  one  light — Christ  crucified  and  risen 
again. 

At  the  head  of  this  picture  of  Paul's  conversion  we 
have  placed  Eom.  v.  20,  "Where  sin  abounded,  grace  did 
much  more  abound ;"  and  the  way  in  which  he  was  won  to 
Christ  has  shewn  us  that  the  mystery  of  Christ,  (Eph.  iii. 
3,  &c.,)  which  shines  so  bright  through  all  his  apostolical 
preaching,  was  intrusted  to  him  as  the  mystery  of  his  self- 
experienced  grace  in  the  forgiveness  of  his  sins.  His  per- 
son and  his  work  are  in  harmonious  oneness,  illuminated 
both  by  the  same  bright  splendour  of  his  heavenly  calling. 
Abounding  sin  and  superabounding  grace, — these  two 
poles  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  about  which  faith  moves, — 
as  they  form  the  main  traits  of  his  own  Christian  character, 
so  they  constitute  the  main  points  of  his  apostolical  teach- 
ing. We  shall  take  occasion  to  speak  of  this  in  another 
chapter  (Paul  "  the  man  of  faith.")  In  the  next  we  have 
to  accompany  ''the  labourer  of  the  Lord"  into  the  harvest 
of  the  Gentiles,  and  the  last  gathering  in  of  the  remnant 
among  Israel. 

*'  To  Jesus'  love  a  stranger  yet, 

Saul  sped  along  the  road. 
Intent  to  slay  where'er  he  met 

Christ's  harmless  flock  abroad  : 
When,  lo  !  from  heav'n  he  heard  a  call, 

'Twas  Jesus'  voice,  which  said, 
Why  persecutest  thou  me,  Saul  ? 

But  rise  ;  for  I  have  made 
A  chosen  vessel  thee,  to  bear 

My  name  before  the  world  ; 
And  I  will  shew  thee  how  to  share 

The  cross  thou  shalt  unfold." 


44  ST  PAUL. 


V. 

THE  LABOUEER 

"  I  laboured  more  abundantly  than  they  all."— 1  Cor.  xv.  10. 

We  are  not  writing  the  history  of  Paul's  life  ;  yet  we  must 
follow  him  on  the  way  of  his  apostolical  labour,  in  order 
to  collect  the  traits  of  that  picture  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
has  presented  to  us  in  this  man  of  God.  "  By  the  grace 
of  God  I  am  wliat  I  am/'  he  says,  in  the  same  place,  where 
he  boldly  speaks,  "  I  laboured  more  abundantly  than  they 
all."  In  his  apostolical  labour  his  Christian  character  is 
reflected ;  and  in  this  view  let  us  consider  the  work  he 
accomplished. 

To  be  found  "  in  labours  "  the  Apostle  reckons  among 
those  things  in  which  the  ministers  of  God  approve  them- 
selves, (2  Cor.  vi.  4,  5  ;)  and  a  diligent  labourer  indeed  he 
was,  "  not  slothful  in  business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving 
the  Lord,"  (Eom.  xii.  11  ;)  yea,  life  itself  he  was  ever 
ready  to  sacrifice,  and  that  joyfuUy,  in  the  service  of  his 
Heavenly  Master,  (Phil.  ii.  17;)  nor  was  there  anything  he 
was  more  afraid  of  than  "  living  unto  himself,"  and  thus 
robbing  God  of  His  own  property — both  body  and  soul  be- 
longing unto  Him,  (Eom.  xiv.  7,  8  ;  1  Cor.  vi.  19,  20  ;  2 
Cor.  V.  15.)  And  it  was  Christ's  constraining  love,  (2  Cor. 
V.  14,)  this  grand  motive  to  all  his  actions,  which  in  the 
face  of  "  bonds  and  afflictions  "  made  him  declare  to  the 
elders  of  the  Ephesian  church,   "  None  of  these  things 


THE  LABOUREK.  45 

move  me,  neither  count  1  my  life  dear  unto  myself,  so  that 
I  might  finish  my  course  with  joy,  and  the  ministry  which 
I  have  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  testify  the  Gospel  of 
the  grace  of  God,"  (Acts  xx.  24.) 

Yet  "  day  rises  none  the  sooner  because  we  rise  before 
dawn."  This  Paul  learned  in  the  school  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
"  In  quietness  and  confidence  shall  be  your  strength,"  (Isa. 
XXX.  15.)  As  the  silent  brook,  which  hides  itself  in  a 
glen,  is  only  gathering  strength  to  pour  forth  more  vigor- 
ously at  large  and  swell  to  a  mighty  stream — so  ran  the 
course  of  our  great  Apostle's  life.  While  resting  certain 
days  with  the  disciples  at  Damascus,  he  could  not  indeed 
refrain  from  testifying  at  once  what  he  had  heard  and 
seen  to  the  Jews  in  that  city.  Impelled  by  the  ardour  of 
his  first  love,  and  the  clear  conviction  of  his  new  heart,  he 
straightway  proved  Christ  in  their  synagogues,  that  He  is 
the  Son  of  God,  (Acts  ix.  20.)  "  Immediately,"  he  says, 
(Gal.  i.  16,  17,)  "  I  conferred  not  with  flesh  and  blood,  nei- 
ther went  I  up  to  Jerusalem  to  them  which  were  apostles 
before  me,"  as  if  they  had  been  more  credible  witnesses 
than  Ananias,  or  as  if  my  heavenly  call  needed  their  rati- 
fication. Still  less  did  he  think  it  his  duty  to  the  chief 
priests  whose  commission  he  had  held,  or  to  Gamaliel, 
his  former  teacher,  that  he  should  hear  and  weigh  his  and 
their  arguments.  But,  great  as  was  his  ardour,  his  testi- 
mony had  not  the  effect  which — "  coming  fresh  from  the 
forge,"  as  Luther  says — he  expected.  For  though  he  "  con- 
founded the  Jews,"  by  proving  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ, 
they  were  no  less  offended  at  his  new  doctrine  than  amazed 
at  his  sudden  change.  Then  would  come  home  to  his 
heart  what  Stephen  had  said  of  Moses  :  "  For  he  supposed 
his  brethren  would  have  understood  him,  how  that  God  by 
his  hand  would  deliver  them,  but  they  understood  not," 
(Acts  vii.  25.)     Paul,  like  Moses,    was  first  to  serve  his 


46  ST  PAUL. 

apprenticeship  in  the  wilderness.  For  a  three  years'  still- 
ness the  heavenly  Master  led  His  disciple  into  the  deserts 
of  Arabia,  (Gal.  i.  17,)  whither  he  was  followed  by  no 
Philip  to  interpret  to  him  God's  Word;  but  the  Lord 
Jesus  Himself  was  his  teacher,  as  he  studied  the  Scriptures 
and  pondered  over  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  and  the  glory  in 
which  he  had  belield  Him  who  was  slain  for  sinners  shed 
its  heavenly  light  over  his  meditations,  illuminating  the 
pages  of  the  prophets,  and  opening  to  his  spiritual  view 
the  progress  of  Christ's  Church  and  kingdom  on  earth.  If 
the  ''visions  and  revelations  of  the  Lord,"  (2  Cor.  xii.  1,) 
which  he  kept  above  fourteen  years  to  himself,  (ib.,  ver.  2,) 
fell  within  the  period  of  these  three  years,  then  were  not 
only  the  three  years'  companionship  of  the  disciples,  but 
also  the  forty  days  that  the  Lord  shewed  HimseK  alive 
unto  them,  amply  compensated  to  him  by  his  being  ''caught 
up  into  paradise,  and  hearing  unspeakable  words,"  (ib.,  ver. 
4.)  To  make  all  flesh  keep  silence  before  Him,  God  has 
raised  up  and  fitted  for  their  high  calling  the  greatest  of 
His  servants  in  retirement  away  from  the  world, — Moses  in 
Midian,  Elijah  at  the  brook  Cherith,  Paul  in  Arabia.  Nor, 
when  he  returned  from  this  lengthened  seclusion,  had  the 
moment  arrived  yet  for  Paul  to  enter  upon  his  apostoHcal 
labour.  Chosen  and  called  as  he  was  of  Christ,  yet  would 
he  not  proclaim  himself,  but  waited  in  patient  modesty 
tiU,  after  proving  before  the  first  heathen  congregation  his 
heaven-wrought  fitness  for  the  work,  the  Holy  Ghost,  by 
the  mouth  of  the  Church,  had  confirmed  the  heavenly  call 
of  his  Master,  (Acts  xiii.  2 ;)  for  he  would  have  no  man 
think  of  him  above  that  which  he  saw  him  to  be,  or  heard 
of  him,  (2  Cor.  xii.  6.)  He  loathed  all  "  commending  of 
himselty  well  knowing  that  only  he  is  approved  "  whom 
the  Lord  commendeth,"  (2  Cor.  x.  18.)  From  Arabia  he 
returned  again  unto  Damascus,   (Gal.  i.  17,)  where   "the 


THE  LABOURER.  47 

Jews  took  counsel  to  kill  him ; "  and,  assisted  by  the  Ara- 
bian governor's  garrison,  "watched  the  gates  day  and 
night,"  desirous  to  apprehend  him.  ''  But  their  lying  in 
wait  being  known  of  Saul,"  this  "man  in  Christ,"  "caught 
up  to  the  third  heaven,"  even  ''into  paradise,"  was  yet 
so  sober,  and  so  well  prepared  for  the  suffering  state  of 
Christ's  Church  on  earth,  that  he  allowed  the  disciples  to 
take  him  by  night,  and  let  liim  down  by  the  wall  in  a  bas- 
ket, in  order  to  escape  the  hands  of  his  pursuers,  (Acts  ix. 
23-25  ;  2  Cor.  xi.  32,  33.)  It  is  for  the  seeming  weakness 
of  this  basket-flight,  that,  at  the  close  of  that  long  regis- 
ter of  his  sufferings  detailed  in  the  last-named  chapter, 
(2  Cor.  xi.,)  the  Apostle  adduces  this  circumstance  as  a 
proof  that  "  if  he  must  needs  glory,  he  will  glory  of  the 
things  which  concern  his  infirmity."  Now  he  went  up  to 
Jerusalem,  which  he  had  not  seen  again  since  his  conversion. 
As  a  persecutor  he  had  left  it,  as  a  fugitive  he  re-entered  it. 
How  might  he  feel  as  he  set  his  feet  within  the  gates  of 
that  beloved  city  !  Yet  differently  from  what  his  love 
expected  was  he  received  by  the  Christian  congregation. 
There  was  no  Ananias  prepared  by  a  heavenly  vision  to 
meet  him,  and  welcome  his  arrival;  yea,  rather,  as  "he 
assayed  to  join  himself  to  the  disciples,  they  were  all  afraid 
of  him,  and  believed  not  that  he  was  a  disciple.  But  Bar- 
nabas took  him,  and  brought  him  to  the  apostles,  and  de- 
clared unto  them  how  he  had  seen  the  Lord  in  the  way, 
and  that  He  had  spoken  to  him,"  (Acts  ix.  26,  27.) 
When  a  Pharisee,  Saul  had  been  distinguished  as  a  man  of 
consequence  among  the  people ;  now  Paul,  when  won  by 
Jesus,  bore  it  meekly  to  have  his  character  shielded  by  the 
testimony  of  Barnabas.  With  Peter  indeed  he  abode 
fifteen  days,  but  others  of  the  apostles  saw  he  none,  save 
James  the  Lord's  brother,  (Gal.  i.  18,  19 ;)  nor  was  it  till 
"fourteen  years  after,"  when  he  went  up  to  Jerusalem  "by 


48  ST  PAUL. 

revelation,"  (Gal.  ii.  1,  2,)  that  he  was  formally  recognised 
as  an  apostle,  and,  together  with  Barnabas,  "  received  the 
right  hands  of  fellowship,"  (ib.,  ver.  9 ;)  ''  that  we  should 
go,"  he  there  adds,  "  unto  the  heathen,  and  they  unto  the 
circumcision."  Thus  his  heavenly  commission  was  rati- 
fied on  earth.  But  what  it  cost  him  to  give  up  his  fa- 
vourite wish — to  become  the  herald  of  salvation  to  his  own 
brethren  after  the  flesh — may  be  judged  from  the  circum- 
stance that  the  Lord  again  appeared  unto  him  especially 
for  this  purpose,  in  the  Temple  of  Jerusalem,  saying  unto 
him,  "Make  haste,  and  get  thee  quickly  out  of  Jerusalem ; 
for  they  will  not  receive  thy  testimony  concerning  me;" 
and,  upon  Paul's  reference  to  his  former  conduct,  as  a  well- 
meant  apology  for  their  rejection  of  his  testimony,  the 
Lord  still  more  categorically  repeated  His  charge  :  "  De- 
part, for  I  will  send  thee  far  hence  unto  the  Gentiles," 
(Acts  xxii.  17-21.) 

In  Tarsus,  his  native  city,  Saul  was  still  waiting  his 
Master's  pleasure,  as  to  whither  He  would  have  him  go, 
till  Barnabas  sought  for  him  there,  and  finding  him, 
brought  him  to  Antioch,  (Acts  xi.  25,  26.)  Thus  he  did 
not  take  his  apostleship  as  a  robbery.  At  Antioch  they 
laboured  "  a  whole  year"  in  the  cjiurch  that  had  been  ga- 
thered there  by  "  men  of  Cyprus  and  Gyrene,"  whom  "  the 
persecution  that  arose  about  Stephen  "  had  scattered  thi- 
ther, and  abroad  into  other  heathen  lands,  (Acts  xi.)  Here, 
under  the  deepest  sense  of  God's  goodness  and  severity  to 
bring  salvation  unto  the  Gentiles  through  the  fall  of  the 
Jews,  (Eom.  xi.  11,)  the  Apostle's  call  to  labour  among  the 
former  virtually  began.  But  immediately  also  an  occasion 
offered  for  his  helping  hand  unto  those  of  the  circumcision. 
A  "great  dearth"  happening  "in  the  days  of  Claudius 
Csesar,"  the  disciples  of  Antioch  sent  relief  unto  the  breth- 
ren which  dwelt  in  Judea  by  the  hands  of  Barnabas  and 


THE  LABOURER.  49 

Saul,  (ib.,)  in  proof  of  the  close  communion  existing  be- 
tween the  two  churches,  and  to  provoke  to  jealousy  the 
unbelieving  Jews.  The  church  at  Jerusalem,  indeed,  was 
scattered  abroad  more  and  more.  Upon  James's  martyr- 
dom and  Peter's  miraculous  escape  from  prison,  (Acts  xii.,) 
the  latter  also  "  departed,  and  went  into  another  place," 
(ib.  ver.  17.) 

jS'ow,  when  Barnabas  and  Saul  w^ere  deputed  by  the 
church  at  Antioch,  under  direction  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to 
the  ministry  of  the  Gospel  among  the  Gentiles,  (Acts 
xiii.  1-3,)  their  course  was  guided  partly  by  Barnabas's 
attractions  to  his  native  country,  Cyprus,  (ib.  ver.  4,)  but 
chiefly  by  Paul's  apostolic  maxim,  to  pfeach  the  Gospel 
where  Christ  had  not  been  named,  lest  he  should  build 
upon  another  man's  foundation,  (Eom.  xv.  20;  2  Cor.  x. 
16.)  At  Salamis,  the  capital  of  Cyprus,  we  see  the  true 
Israelite  meet  in  combat  with  false  Judaism  about  the 
Eoman  deputy's  soul ;  and  here,  with  Elymas  the  sorcerer, 
Saul  maintained  his  first  open  contest  with  ''the  rulers 
of  the  darkness  of  this  world,"  (Eph.  vi.  12.)  In  many 
incidents  of  his  life  the  Apostle  seems  sensible  of  personal 
powers  of  darkness  withstanding  his  labour  of  light  and 
love,  w^ere  it  only  a  casual  hindrance  in  the  way  of  paying 
a  ministerial  visit,  (1  Thess.  ii.  18.)  While  he  knows 
Christ,  and  is  known  of  Him,  he  is  not  ignorant  of  Satan's 
devices,  (2  Cor.  ii.  11.)  Having  rescued  the  deputy's  soul 
out  of  the  net  of  Elymas, — that  "  sorcerer"  and  "  child  of 
the  devil," — St  Luke,  as  if  in  honour  of  this  first  prize  won 
by  him  for  Christ  in  the  person  of  Sergius  Paulus,  changes 
Saul's  name  into  that  of  Paul,  (Acts  xiii.  9,)  and  gives  him 
precedence  henceforth  over  Barnabas.  It  is  not  unlikely, 
though,  that  already,  on  occasion  of  his  baptism,  the 
Apostle,  prompted  by  Christian  humility,  may  have  de- 
sired this  change  in  his  name ;  for  Paul  means  "  little," 

D 


50  ST  PAUL. 

while  Saul  means  "  asked,"  "  desired."  His  parents,  per- 
haps, had  long  prayed  for  him  ;  and,  lo  !  like  the  ill-asked 
king  of  old,  their  son  also  became  a  persecutor  of  God's 
beloved.  But  now,  as  Paul  the  little,  or  ''less  than  the 
least,"  he  would  lay  all  Saul's  greatness  and  gain  at  the 
King  of  Israel's  feet,  and  say  with  David,  "Thou  hast  given 
me  the  defence  of  thy  salvation ;  thy  right  hand  also  shall 
hold  me  up,  and  thy  loving  correction  shall  make  me 
great,"  (Ps.  xviii.  35.) 

Pteaching  next  to  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  they  "  went  into 
the  synagogue  on  the  Sabbath-day,  and  sat  down."  From 
first  to  last  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  yields  to  the 
Jews  in  their  disj)ersion  the  place  he  assigns  them  in  that 
cardinal  passage,  ''  To  the  Jew  first,"  (Eom.  i.  16.)  The 
sermon  he  now  preaches  in  their  synagogue  is  a  striking 
evidence  of  the  deep  impression  Stephen's  speech  had 
made  on  his  mind,  for  his  own  is  almost  the  exact  coun- 
terpart of  it,  (Acts  xiii.  16-41.)  He  lit  up  the  lamp  of 
Israel  by  tracing  the  prophetic  word  to  its  accomplishment 
in  Christ,  whose  inestimable  value  to  their  souls  he 
summed  up  in  ver.  38,  39.  The  effect  was  considerable, 
(ver.  42,  43.)  But,  lo  !  on  the  very  next  Sabbath  the  Jews 
were  filled  with  envy  against  the  Gentiles,  (ver.  45.)  Then, 
upon  their  "  contradicting  and  blaspheming,"  "  Paul  and 
Barnabas  waxed  bold,  and  said.  It  was  necessary  that  the 
word  of  God  should  first  have  been  spoken  to  you :  but 
seeing  ye  put  it  from  you,  and  judge  yourselves  unworthy 
of  everlasting  life,  lo,  we  turn  to  the  Gentiles  :  for  so  hath 
the  Lord  commanded  us,  saying,  I  have  set  thee  to  be 
a  light  of  the  Gentiles,  that  thou  shouldest  be  for  salva- 
tion unto  the  ends  of  the  earth,"  (ib.  ver.  46,  47 ;  Isa.  xlix. 
6.)  Thus  early  had  the  Apostle  to  experience  that  his 
labour  of  joy  among  the  Gentiles — for  "  they  glorified  the 
word  of  the  Lord,"  which  was  published  throughout  all 


THE  LABOURER.  51 

the  region — was  to  him  likewise  a  labour  of  sorrow ;  inas- 
much as  the  Lord  accomplished  His  judgment  upon  the 
"  despisers/'  (ver.  41,)  declared  by  His  prophets,  (Isa. 
xxix.  14;  Hab.  i.  5,)  through  the  preaching  of  Paul,  who 
trod  in  their  footsteps.  And  if  ever  his  hope  had  been 
sanguine  enough  to  expect  that  whole  cities  and  provinces 
would,  u]3on  his  preaching  of  Christ,  turn  to  the  Lord,  his 
experience  in  Pisidia  already  would  have  taught  him 
otherwise.  Yet  ''  as  many,"  St  Luke  writes,  (ver.  48,)  "  as 
were  ordained  to  eternal  life  believed."  Only  those  who 
by  grace  were  led  to  believe  in  Christ  accepted  the  call  of 
God's  everlasting  purpose  of  love  in  Him,  and  their  names 
were  written  in  the  book  of  life  ;  while  the  disobedient  and 
unbelieving,  both  among  the  Jews  and  Gentiles, — in  hard- 
ening their  hearts  against  God's  call,  and  so  thrusting  sal- 
vation from  them, — cannot  escape  the  judicial  vengeance 
wherewith  God  will  visit  them  that  do  despite  unto  the 
Spirit  of  grace  by  rejecting  His  proffered  mercy  in  the 
blood  of  His  Son,  when  and  wherever  He  causes  His  gospel 
to  be  preached.  What  the  Apostle  writes  in  the  first 
three  cha^Dters  of  the  Eomans  he  amply  experienced  in 
the  course  of  his  apostolical  labour.  The  preaching  of 
God's  Word  was  no  sham-fight  with  him,  penetrated  as  he 
was  by  the  conviction,  that  whether  it  be  to  life  or  to 
death,  "  God  always  causeth  the  heralds  of  His  salvation 
to  triumph  in  Christ,"  (2  Cor.  ii.  14,  &c.)  And  that  he 
knew  the  import  of  the  curse  over  a  city  which  rejects  the 
message  of  peace,  he  shews  by  following  Christ's  command, 
(Matt.  X.  14,)  in  shaking  off  the  dust  of  his  feet  against  them 
at  Antioch  who  would  rather  allow  themselves  to  be  led 
away  by  the  false  Jews  to  persecution  than  by  the  true 
Israelite  to  the  following  of  Jesus,  (Acts  xiii.  50,  51.) 

Lamenting  over  the  obdurate  hardness  and  sad  fate  of  his 
nation,  who  were  "  filling  up  their  sins  alway,"  and  draw- 


62  ST  PAUL. 

ing  God's  "  wrath  upon  them  to  the  uttermost/'  by  hin- 
dering the  Gentiles  to  be  saved,  (1  Thess.  ii.  16,)  Paul  pro- 
ceeded with  Barnabas  to  Iconium,  where,  alas  1  they  met 
with  still  greater  opposition.  Here  again  they  entered  the 
synagogue,  and  "  so  spake,  that  a  great  multitude  both  of 
the  Jews  and  also  of  the  Greeks  believed ; "  and  "  the  Lord 
gave  testimony  unto  the  word  of  His  grace  by  granting 
signs  and  wonders  to  be  done  by  their  hands."  But  here 
also  *'the  unbelieving  Jews  stirred  up  the  Gentiles,"  and 
when  there  was  an  assault  made  upon  them  by  both,  they 
fled — not  back,  however,  but  forward  into  the  Lycaonian 
cities,  preaching  the  same  Gospel,  which  everywhere  causes 
so  wholesome  a  stir,  (Acts  xiv.  1-7.)  At  Lystra  we  find  the 
Apostle  growing  like  a  palm  under  her  lofty  load.  A  mir- 
acle, wrought  after  the  manner  of  Peter's  at  the  temple 
gate,  hurried  away  the  populace  to  the  enthusiastic  excla- 
mation, "  The  gods  are  come  down  to  us  in  the  likeness  of 
men;"  and  the  crafty  town-priest  of  Jupiter,  seeing  his 
consequence  at  stake,  quickly  "  brought  oxen  and  garlands 
unto  the  gate,"  to  do  them  homage  by  a  sacrifice.  ''  Chafed 
at  such  dignity  right  sore,"  the  two  "mortal  men,"  who  of 
themselves  would  be  no  better  than  the  meanest  of  the 
blind  heathen,  "ran  in  among  the  people,"  and  Paul  seized 
upon  their  hearts  with  all  the  power  of  his  soul-winning 
love  and  heavenly  wisdom.  He  feels  himself  standing  on 
a  cross-way  of  time.  The  living  God,  who  made  heaven 
and  earth,  hath  in  times  past  suffered  all  Gentile  nations 
to  walk  in  their  own  ways ;  yet  of  His  being  their  God 
also,  (Eom.  iii.  29,)  He  hath  not  left  Himself  without  wit- 
ness; and  the  Lycaonians,  whose  fruitful  fields  were  the 
granaries  of  Asia  Minor,  heard  this  day  proclaimed  before 
their  delighted  ears  the  name  of  the  true  God,  as  their 
heavenly  Nourish er  and  the  Filler  of  their  "  hearts  with  food 
and  gladness."    ''And  with  these  sayings  scarce  restrained 


THE  LABOURER.  58 

they  the  people,  that  they  had  not  done  sacrifice  nnto 
them."  Nevertheless,  here  also  they  were  not  ''  delivered 
from  unreasonable  and  wicked  men  :  for  all  men  have  not 
faith,"  (2  Thess.  iii.  2  ;)  and  after  a  while  Paul  lay  bruised 
and  smarting  under  the  stones  of  the  Jews,  who  came 
thither  from  Antioch  and  Iconium  to  destroy  the  work  of 
God-5  and  the  Lycaonians  had  no  further  fancy  for  the 
two  ''mortal  men,"  who,  though  healing  their  impotent 
cripple,  could  not  shield  themselves  from  the  stones  of  the 
Jews.  Howbeit,  some  of  the  new  disciples — Timothy  was 
probably  one  of  them,  (Acts  xvi.  1) — surmounted  the 
blow ;  for  not  in  Paul,  but  in  Jesus  they  believed.  And 
as  these  stood  round  about  Paul,  ''  supposing  he  had  been 
dead,"  this  servant  of  the  most  high  God,  chafed  at  oxen  and 
garlands,  but  bearing  stones  patiently,  rose  up  and  re- 
turned undaunted  into  the  city,  (Acts  xiv.  8-20.) 

Next  day  they  came  to  Derbe,  and  having  preached  the 
Gospel  to  that  city  also,  and  taught  many,  they  retraced 
their  way,  content  for  the  present  with  the  gospel  breast- 
work they  had  reared  in  the  four  cities,  Antioch,  Iconium, 
Lystra,  and  Derbe,  and  "confirming,"  as  they  repassed 
them,  *'the  souls  of  the  disciples,  exhorting  them  to  con- 
tinue in  the  faith,  and  that  we" — i.e.,  all  who  with  Paul  live 
a  life  of  faith  in  Jesus — "  must  through  much  tribulation 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  Far  from  being  discou- 
raged at  the  ill  success  of  this  first  missionary  tour,  the 
Apostle  would  anticipate  with  fondest  hope  a  bright  har- 
vest from  the  many  tender  "blades"  springing  here  and 
there  over  all  the  ground  they  had  trod.  To  consolidate 
their  work,  and  commit  the  newly-gathered  disciples  to 
the  care  of  the  Lord,  they  ordained  them  elders  in  every 
church,  and  returned  by  way  of  Perga  and  Attalia  to 
Antioch,  "whence  they  had  been  recommended  to  the  grace 
of  God  for  the  work  which  they  fulfilled;"  and  having 


54  ST  PAUL. 

gathered  the  Church  together,  they  rehearsed  all  that  God 
had  done  with  them,  and  how  He  had  opened  the  door  of 
faith  unto  the  Gentiles,  (Acts  xiv.  21-27.)  Thus  the  Apostle 
laid  all  honour  humbly  at  the  Lord's  feet  in  His  Church, — 
the  keeper  of  His  counsel  and  dispenser  of  His  grace  by 
the  Holy  Ghost, — forming,  at  the  same  time,  a  bond  of 
union  between  the  mother  Church  and  her  newly-born 
daughters. 

A  twofold  danger,  which  now  began  to  threaten  the 
young  churches  gathered  from  amongst  JeAvs  and  Gentiles, 
— by  either  the  former  narrowing  the  door  of  faith,  or  the 
latter  widening  that  of  Christian  life, — was  averted  by  the 
apostolical  synod  at  Jerusalem,  under  the  guidance  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Being  chosen  wdth  Barnabas  to  represent 
the  Antiochian  church  there,  Paul,  for  the  sake  of  peace, 
willingly  bore  the  appearance  of  dependence  upon  those 
"who  seemed  to  be  pillars,"  (Gal.  ii.  9,)  a  proof  of  self- 
denial  for  Avhich  the  Lord  strengthened  him  by  a  special 
revelation,  (ib.  ver.  2.)  But  the  viewing  of  Paul's  char- 
acter in  the  light  of  the  Jerusalem  synod,  we  reserve  for 
the  closing  chapter  of  this  sketch. 

Before  setting  out  on  his  second  missionary  tour,  Paul 
parted  from  Barnabas.  In  their  contention  about  Mark, 
the  old  Saiil  seems  to  have  had  his  share.  But  the  Lord 
covered  the  fault  of  His  faithful  servant,  and  knew  how  to 
convert  it  into  good.  In  full  independence  he  now  entered 
upon  his  high  work,  choosing  Silas  for  his  companion,  one 
of  those  deputed  by  the  Jerusalem  synod  to  Antioch,  whose 
blessed  footsteps  proved  that  Paul  had  chosen  the  right 
man,  (Acts  xv.  36-40.)  Besides  him,  he  also  chose  Timothy, 
whom  he  found  at  Lystra,  grown,  since  his  first  visit,  into 
good  report  among  the  brethren  there.  In  this  youth, 
whom  he  took  to  his  heart  wdth  tender  love,  he  won  his 
most  faithful  companion,  whose  unselfish  mind  resembled 


THE  LABOURER.  55 

his  own  in  entire  devotion  to  the  work  of  the  Lord, 
(Phil.  ii.  20.)  A  bosom  friend  he  proved  to  him,  such  as 
Paul  Gerhard  prayed  for,  when  he  sang,  ''According  to 
thy  will  give  me  a  friend,  in  whose  fidelity  my  heart  may 
find  repose."  From  the  very  first  St  Paul  evinces  a  con- 
fidence in  his  genuine  faith,  which  is  most  creditable  to 
Timothy.  While  he  would  not  circumcise  Titus,  because 
of  false  brethren,  (Gal.  ii.  3,  4,)  he  circumcised  Timothy  in 
forbearance  with  the  weakness  of  the  Jews,  (Acts  xvi.  3 ;) 
and  he  felt  able  to  do  so,  because  he  knew  him  to  be  so 
freed  by  faith  from  subjection  to  ordinances,  that  without 
danger  to  his  Christ-betrothed  soul,  Timothy,  for  the  sake 
of  others,  could  waive  in  this  instance  his  liberty  in  Christ. 
This  virtue  of  acting  under  all  circumstances  as  "the  Lord's 
freeman,"  (1  Cor.  vii.  22,)  was  most  prominent  in  Paul 
himself,  as  hereafter  we  shall  have  occasion  to  see.  A  third 
coadjutor  in  the  Apostle's  work,  whom  the  Lord  had 
designed  to  become  the  interpreter  of  the  history  himself 
henceforth  witnessed,  was  St  Luke  the  Evangelist,  who, 
without  noticing  his  name,  modestly  intimates  his  com- 
panionship of  the  Apostle  by  speaking,  from  Acts  xvi.  10, 
onward,  in  the  first  person.*     Cf  Acts  xvi.  1-3. 

The  wings  of  the  dove  had  waxed  strong  for  a  flight 
abroad,  and  being  "  forbidden  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  preach 
the  word  in  Asia,"  St  Paul  pressed  forward  to  the  West. 
Close  before  the  door  of  Europe — at  Troas — there  appeared 
to  him  an  angel,  in  the  form  of  /'a  man  of  Macedonia," 
whose  cry  for  help  gave  expression  to  the  mute  misery  of 
the  heathen  there.  Manned  with  such  helpful  hands,  the 
ship  soon  gained  the  Macedonian  harbour,  Neapolis,  whence 
at  once  they  proceeded  to  the  principal  free  city,  Philippi, 

*  Except  from  the  Apostle's  departure  from  Philippi,  (Acts  xvi.  40,)  to 
his  return  to  it,  (Acts  xx.  6,)  a  space  of  about  half  a  dozen  years,  during 
which  time  Luke  seems  to  have  remained  in  that  city. — Tr. 


56  ST  PAUL. 

where  Imperial  Eome  held  her  sway,  and  was  now  for  the 
first  time*  ominously  met  by  the  heralds  of  a  mightier 
kingdom,  that  of  Christ.  With  Lydia,  whose  heart  the 
Lord  opened,  and  with  her  household,  the  first  Christian 
church  in  Europe  began.  But  ''the  strong  man  armed," 
seeing  ''his  palace"  beset,  and  his  peace  disturbed,  stirred 
up  the  greedy  masters  of  "  a  certain  damsel  possessed  with 
the  spirit  of  divination,"  and  they  accused  the  apostles 
before  the  magistrates,  as  troublers  of  their  city  and  teach- 
ers of  anti-Roman  customs ;  whereupon  they  were  beaten 
and  cast  into  prison.  There,  with  "their  feet  made  fast  in 
the  stocks,"  Paul  and  Silas  prayed  and  sang  midnight 
praises  unto  God,  rejoicing  in  their  tribulation  for  Christ's 
sake.  And  the  Lord  gave  His  echo  to  their  prayer  in  a 
great  earthquake  shaking  the  foundations  of  the  prison; 
"  and  immediately  all  the  doors  w^ere  opened,  and  every 
one's  bands  were  loosed."  But  the  salvation  of  one  soul — 
that  of  the  terror-stricken  jailer — far  outweighed,  in  Paul's 
estimation,  their  own  stocks  and  bands ;  and  a  second 
family  was  won  that  night  to  thfe  faith  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
"  Thou  shalt  be  saved,  and  thy  house,"  said  the  Apostle,  not 
sparing  the  health-giving  water  of  the  "fountain  opened" 
in  Christ  "  for  sin  and  for  uncleanness,"  (Zech.  xiii.  1.) 
The  manner  of  their  release  from  prison  shews  us  a  trait 
of  that  wisdom  which  Paul  knew  how  to  use  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Church  of  Christ.  The  magistrates,  apprehensive  of 
having  acted  illegally  in  their  imprisonment,  now  wished 
to  push  them  ofiT  quietly.  Against  this  Paul  entered  his 
protest,  and  his  appeal  for  justice  to  the  privilege  of  a 
Roman  citizen  {civis  Romanus  sum)  brought  the  perplexed 
city  praetors  themselves  to  the  prison,  beseeching  the  apos- 
tles themselves  to  come  out  and  leave  the  city.   "  ALL  things 

*  At  least  in  Europe. — Tr. 


THE  LABOURER.  57 

are  yours,"  (1  Cor.  iii.  22,)  even  citizensliips  and  privileges 
in  this  world ;  which  in  this  instance  served  the  cause  of 
the  Church's  temporal  well-being  at  Philippi.  Singing 
praises  in  bands  and  the  stocks,  from  whicli  a  miraculous 
earthquake  set  them  free,  Paul  was  yet  sober  enough  to 
claim  the  rightful  protection  of  legal  authority ;  and  what 
here  he  did  is  but  the  prelude  of  the  practical  comment 
which  his  life,  down  to  his  appeal  to  Csesar,  furnishes  to 
his  own  teaching  of  the  blessings  of  civil  authorities,  as 
"the  powers  ordained  of  God,"  (Eom.  xiii.  1-6.)  C£  Acts 
xvi.  6,  &c. 

At  Thessalonica,  the  capital  of  Macedonia,  ''a  great 
multitude  of  devout  Greeks,  and  of  the  chief  women  not  a 
few,  consorted  with  Paul  and  Silas;"  not,  however,  without 
again  provoking  the  envy  of  the  Jews,  who  here  had  their 
principal  synagogue;  and  by  stirring  up  "certain  lewd 
fellows  of  the  baser  sort,"  who  "set  all  the  city  in  an 
uproar,"  they  caused  the  apostles  to  be  sent  away  by  night. 
As  those  of  Jerusalem  had  accused  Jesus,  so  these  accused 
His  servants,  of  opposition  to  Csesar.  But  He  who  gave 
Pilate  power  that  the  Shepherd  should  be  smitten  instead  of 
the  sheep,  here  inclined  the  rulers  of  the  city  to  "  let  these 
go."  Thus  Paul  and  Silas  escaped  from  the  house  of  Jason 
unto  Berea.  But  how  does  the  Apostle  leave  his  new-born 
children  at  Thessalonica?  Though  not  without  anxiety, 
for  the  tempter  lay  at  their  door,  (1  Thess.  iii.  5,)  yet  with 
a  gladness  at  their  already  proved  patience  in  suffering, 
which  makes  him  exclaim,  "Ye  are  our  glory  and  joy," 
(1  Thess.  ii.  14-20.)  Prom  Acts  xvii.  10,  it  would  appear 
that  Paul  left  Timothy  for  a  while  at  Thessalonica.  At 
Berea  the  Lord  refreshed  the  soul  of  His  hard-toiling 
labourer ;  for  here  the  Jews  "  were  more  noble  than  those 
at  Thessalonica,  in  that  they  received  the  word  with  aU 
readiness   of  mind,    and   searched  the   Scriptures   daily. 


58  ST  PAUL. 

whether  those  things  were  so."  Yet  not  long  was  he  to 
enjoy  this  rare  delight  in  his  own  people.  Indeed,  enjoying 
— even  in  this  noblest  sense — was,  throughout,  less  the 
motto  of  his  life  than  self-denying  toil.  The  Jews  from 
Thessalonica  came  thither  also,  and  stirred  up  the  people 
against  the  word  "preached  of  Paul,"  who,  much  as  it 
went  against  his  undaunted  nature  to  flee,  yet,  since  this 
served  to  bring  fruit  unto  the  Lord,  went  "as  it  were  to 
the  sea,"  and  came  to  Athens,  leaving  Silas  and  Timothy 
(who  had  meanwhile  come  from  Thessalonica)  still  at  Berea. 
Cf.  Acts  xvii.  1-15. 

While  waiting  here  for  his  companions,  Paul  passed 
lonely  through  the  world-famed  city  of  wisdom,  "  the  Altar 
of  the  Greeks  and  their  Guildhall,  and  of  all  Arts  and 
Sciences  the  Cradle."  Not  insensible  to  the  Athenians' 
taste  for  the  beautiful,  so  profusely  displayed  in  the  sculp- 
tured representations  of  their  deities,  yet  his  ''spirit  was 
stirred"  in  him  when  he  saw  the  city  wholly  given  to 
idolatry.  Poignant  woe  over  the  glittering  wretchedness 
of  the  ignorant  and  yet  wisdom-proud  Greeks,  and  holy 
zeal  against  Idm,  who  had  guided  with  seductive  hand 
their  chisel  in  the  masterpieces  of  human  art,  moved  the 
Apostle's  soul.  But  that  "  the  spirits  of  the  prophets  are 
subject  to  the  prophets,"  (1  Cor.  xiv.  32,)  he  signally  evinced 
here.  Unprovoked  by  the  loose  talk  of  the  Epicureans 
and  the  supercilious  mockery  of  the  Stoics,  he  allowed 
himself  to  be  led  to  the  Areopagus;  whence,  surveying 
the  town  with  all  its  splendid  symbols  of  idolatrous  wor- 
ship, he  would  grieve  in  his  mind  over  "  the  truth  of  God 
being  changed  into  a  lie,  and  the  creature  worshipped  and 
served  more  than  the  Creator,  who  is  blessed  for  ever," 
(Rom.  i.  25.)  He  gladly  bore  to  be  looked  upon  by  the 
curious  Athenians  as  "  a  setter  forth  of  strange  gods,"  and 
with  the  quick  eye  of  love,  which  made  him  ''  all  things  to 


THE  LABOURER.  59 

all  men,"  (1  Cor.  ix.  22,)  lie  looked  about  him  for  a  way  of 
access  to  the  hearts  of  a  people,  to  whom  "  Christ  crucified" 
was  ''foolishness,"  (1  Cor.  i.  23.)  All  excitement  of  feel- 
ing he  knew  how  to  subject  to  his  will  in  the  Lord ;  every 
word  is  well  weighed  in  the  balance  of  love,  and  adapted 
to  the  state  of  his  hearers.  He  takes  his  starting  point 
from  an  inscription  he  had  read  on  one  of  their  altars  : 
''To  the  unknown  God."  Fain  to  discover  in  this  confes- 
sion of  their  ignorance  an  unstilled  sigh  after  truth,  he 
declares  to  them  that  God  whom  they  ignorantly  worship, 
as  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  who  is  throned  in  blissful 
independence, — needeth  nothing  of  men,  but  giveth  them 
all  things,  and  so  directeth  all  their  ways,  by  demonstra- 
tions both  of  His  wrath  and  mercy,  as  to  lead  them  to  seek 
Him,  "if  haply  they  might  feel  after  Him  and  find  Him" 
to  be  their  Creator  and  kind  Preserver, — who,  instead  of 
rejecting  and  destroying  man's  corrupt  nature,  has  reserved 
it  to  verify  the  saying  of  their  poets,  "we  are  His  offspring," 
but  in  a  higher  sense  than  theirs — viz.,  in  the  Christian 
sentiments  of  those  w^ho  shall  have  found  God,  not  in  the 
likeness  of  any  phantom  of  the  human  imagination,  but  in 
that  one  man  whom  He  hath  ordained  to  judge  the  world, 
even  in  the  man  Christ  Jesus.  To  Him  the  Apostle  knows 
finally  how  to  direct  the  hearts  of  the  Athenians,  that  now, 
after  God  hath  "winked  at  the  time  of  their  ignorance," 
they  may  repent,  in  order  to  escape  the  already  appointed 
day  of  judgment;  on  which  He  whom  God  hath  raised 
from  the  dead,  and  whom  Paul  now  preaches  to  them,  "  will 
judge  the  world  in  righteousness."  Thus  the  Apostle  spake 
at  Athens,  but  the  seed,  alas  1  fell  mostly  on  hard-trodden 
ground  "  by  the  wayside."  With  mockery  over  the  resur- 
rection of  the  dead  on  the  one  side,  and  on  the  other  with 
civil  promises  to  hear  more  of  it  another  time,  the  irksome 
preacher  was  got  rid  of — unmolested,  but  unsought.    "  Not 


60  ST  PAUL. 

many  wise  men,"  (1  Cor.  i.  26 ;)  howbeit  a  few  "  clave  unto 
him,  and  believed;"  and  Paul  deemed  not  his  strength 
spent  in  vain,  but  rather  as  amply  repaid,  in  the  salvation 
of  a  noted  "Dionysius,"  a  less  noted  "Damaris,"  "and 
others  with  them."     Cf.  Acts  xvii.  16-34. 

Nevertheless,  Paul  quitted  Athens  in  great  heaviness. 
We  should  certainly  form  a  very  untrue  picture  of  this 
holy  labourer  of  Christ,  were  we  to  impute  to  him  a  stoical 
equanimity.  Hot  ran  the  blood  in  his  veins.  He  was 
ardent  both  in  his  love  and  grief  On  his  arrival  at  Corinth 
from  Athens  he  was  ''in  weakness,  and  in  fear,  and  in 
much  trembling,"  (1  Cor.  ii.  3.)  His  indifferent  reception 
at  Athens  augured  but  ill  for  him  in  voluptuous  Corinth, 
where  Grecian  philosophy  vied  with  Koman  greatness, 
where  lewdness,  shameless  and  refined,  abounded,  with 
mammon,  luxury,  and  fashion.  Here  he  entirely  abstained 
from  meeting,  as  he  had  done  at  Athens,  the  "  wise"  Greeks 
with  the  weapons  of  their  own  human  wisdom ;  but  know- 
ing '*  the  foolishness  of  God  to  be  wiser  than  men,"  and 
content  to  win  but  those  whom  God  hath  chosen, — the  base 
and  despised  of  the  world,  (1  Cor.  i.  25-29,) — he  "deter- 
mined not  to  know  anything  among  them,  save  Jesus 
Christ  and  Him  crucified,"  (1  Cor.  ii.  2.)  Being  received 
by  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  Jewish  exiles  from  Eome,  he 
wrought  with  them  as  tentmaker,  only  attending  and  rea- 
soning with  Jews  and  Greeks  in  the  synagogue  every 
Sabbath.  On  the  arrival,  however,  of  Silas  and  Timothy 
from  Macedonia,  "Paul  w^as  pressed  in  the  spirit,  and 
testified  to  the  Jews  that  Jesus  was  Christ,"  having  been 
greatly  refreshed  by  the  news  which  Timothy — whom  he 
had  sent  back  from  Athens  to  Thessalonica — brought  him 
from  the  congregation  there,  (cf  1  Thess.  iii.)  ''For  now," 
he  writes,  (ver.  8,)  in  this  very  first  of  his  apostolical  epis- 
tles,— bequeathing  to  the  Church  of  all  times  his  apostolical 


THE  LABOURER.  61 

labour, — now  "  we  live,  if  ye  stand  fast  in  the  Lord."  What 
importance  lie  attaches  to  this  branch  of  his  apostolic 
office, — the  Epistles, — we  see  from  his  solemn  admonition 
at  the  close  of  this  :  "  I  charge  you  by  the  Lord  that  this 
epistle  be  read  unto  all  the  holy  brethren,"  (chap.  v.  27,  cf., 
in  the  second  epistle,  written  shortly  after,  chap.  ii.  15.) 
From  the  opposing  and  blaspheming  Jews  Paul  turned,  "free 
from  their  blood,"  unto  the  Gentiles,  and  had  the  pleasure 
to  be  followed  by  Crispus,  the  chief  ruler  of  the  synagogue, 
whom  he  baptized  with  his  own  hand,  (1  Cor.  i.  14,)  into 
the  house  of  the  God-fearing  Gentile  Justus,  where  the 
rising  Christian  church  assembled,  to  the  ministry  of 
which  Stephanas  devoted  himself,  who,  with  his  house, 
became  ''the  first-fruits  of  Achaia,"  (1  Cor.  xvi.  15.) 
Apprehensive  of  his  speedy  expulsion  from  them,  the 
Apostle  might  naturally  tremble  for  his  little  flock  of  saints 
in  a  city  intoxicated  with  worldly  pleasures,  when  the  Lord 
strengthened  him  by  a  vision,  shewing  him  "the  measure" 
of  His  rule,  a  measure  to  reach  even  unto  Corinth,  (2  Cor. 
X.  13,)  and  bidding  him  to  "  speak,  and  not  hold  his  peace; 
for  that  no  man  should  hurt  him,  and  that  He  had  much 
people  in  this  city."  How,  thereupon,  he  continued  his 
ministry,  teaching  the  word  of  God  among  them,  is  seen 
by  a  glance  at  his  Epistles  to  the  Corinthians.  "  I  have 
fed  you  with  milk,"  he  says,  "  and  not  with  meat ;  for 
hitherto  ye  were  not  able  to  bear  it,"  (1  Cor.  iii.  2 ;)  yet  by 
this  milk  of  the  Gospel  they  not  only  were  saved,  if  they 
believed  in  Christ  dying  for  our  sins  and  rising  again 
according  to  the  Scriptures,  (1  Cor.  xv.  1-4,)  but  were 
likewise  "  enriched  in  everything  by  Christ,  in  all  utter- 
ance and  in  all  knowledge,"  (1  Cor.  i.  5.)  Not  seeking  his 
own  profit,  but  that  of  many,  that  they  may  be  saved 
(1  Cor.  X.  33,)  was  the  Apostle's  rule  of  life,  and  the  testi- 
mony of  his  conscience   everywhere,  but  "  more  abun- 


62  ST  PAUL. 

dantly/'  lie  says,  "  to  you- ward/'  (2  Cor.  i.  12,)  wto  "  are 
in  our  hearts  to  live  and  die  with  you,"  (2  Cor.  vii.  3.) 
"I  have  espoused  you  to  one  husband,"  he  declares  in 
another  place,  "  that  I  may  present  you  as  a  chaste  virgin 
to  Christ,"  (2  Cor.  xi.  2  ;)  and,  lo !  the  Church  of  God  at 
Corinth  became  a  focus  for  the  saints  in  all  Achaia,  (2  Cor. 
i.  1,)  the  seal  of  Paul's  apostleship  in  the  Lord,  (1  Cor. 
ix.  2,)  "the  epistle  of  Christ,"  written  in  his  heart,  not 
with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit  of  the  living  God,  and  known 
and  read  of  all  men,  (2  Cor.  iii.  2,  3.)  This  epistle  the 
unbelieving  Jews  at  Corinth  could  also  read,  either  as  a 
bill  of  indictment  against,  or  a  "  still  small  voice"  for  them. 
But  they  sought  to  convert  Gallic,  the  deputy  of  Achaia, 
into  a  Pilate.  However,  Gallic  would  have  nothing  to  do 
with  their  ''question  of  words,"  and  drove  them  from  his 
judgment-seat.  Thus,  under  the  protection  of  a  heathen 
magistrate,  who — "caring  for  none  of  those  things" — was 
simply  guided  by  a  sense  of  legal  right,  Paul  was  enabled, 
"  as  a  wise  master-builder,"  to  lay  the  foundation,  (1  Cor. 
iii.  10))  and  to  plant  what  afterwards  was  to  be  watered  by 
Apollos,  (ib.  ver.  6,)  whose  peculiar  talents  for  the  work 
the  Apostle  appreciates  with  unenvious  satisfaction.  Cf. 
Acts  xviii.  1-17. 

Ere  we  follow  the  Apostle  to  Ephesus,  we  must  view  him 
yet  on  leaving  Corinth.  As  he  embarked  at  Cenchrea, 
"  he  shaved  his  head ;  for  he  had  a  vow,"  (Acts  xviii.  18.) 
Thus  "the  Lord's  freeman"  would  willingly  put  himself 
under  the  restraint  of  a  vow,  till  his  work  at  Corinth  should 
be  completed ;  for  till  then  he  had  doubtless  vowed  to  the 
Lord,  that  he  would  let  his  hair  grow,*  (Numb.  vi.  5.) 

*  I  have  heard  of  a  pious  youth  forcing  himself  to  a  lengthened  seclu- 
sion from  the  world  by  a  vow,  that  he  would  not  have  his  hair  cut  till  he 
should  have  studied  through  the  whole  Bible  in  the  original;  and  it  was 
said  he  kept  the  vow,— Tr. 


THE  LABOURER.  63 

Behold  this  evangelical  ISTazarite !  "What  in  Acts  xxi.  24 
he  submitted  to  for  the  Jews'  sake,  he  did  of  free  choice  at 
Corinth,  for  his  own  and  his  work's  sake.  The  symbol  of 
a  man's  honour  (1  Cor.  xi.  3-15)  he  laid  at  the  Lord's  feet, 
to  have  this  mark  of  a  Nazarite  always  remind  him  of  his 
utter  dependence  on  God's  all-sufficient  power  to  make  him 
an  able  minister  of  the  New  Testament,  for  his  work  here 
at  Corinth,  (2  Cor.  iii.  5,  6.)  Thus  the  Apostle  knew  how 
to  breathe  a  spirit  of  life  derived  from  Christ  into  the 
"beggarly  elements"  of  the  law;  not  he  served  them,  but 
they  him,  unto  Apostolic  powder  in  Pauline  weakness. 

At  Ephesus,  the  capital  of  Grecian  Asia  Minor,  the 
Apostle  left  Priscilla  and  Aquila, — no  mean  gift,  for  they 
became  his  fellow-helpers  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (Eom.  xvi.  3,) — 
while  himself  hasted  thence  to  Jerusalem  to  convey  to  the 
mother  Church  the  salutations  of  her  many  children,  as 
the  best  Pentecostal  offering  for  the  ensuing  feast.  A  beau- 
tiful Christian  realisation  this  of  the  prophetic  signs  given 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  For  the  ''house  of  prayer  for  all 
people,"  (Isa.-  Ivi.  7,)  whose  empty  form  remained  yet  but  a 
while  on  Mount  Zion,  was  now  growing  up  apace — a  new 
spiritual  house — under  the  blessed  hands  of  the  apostolic 
master-builder,  (Acts  xviii,,  xix.,  &c.) 

"  If  God  will,"  was  Paul's  modest  reply  to  the  Jews  at 
Ephesus,  who  for  once  ''desired  him  to  tarry," — "if  God 
will,  I  will  return  again  unto  you ;"  and  God  willed  it.  At 
Antioch,  whither  now  for  the  last  time  he  returned,  he  met 
with  Peter,*  whom  he  openly  blamed  for  dissembling  with 
the  Jews,  (Gal.  ii.  11,  &c.,  cf.  vi.  1.)  Travelling  through 
Galatia  and  Phrygia  "in  order,"  and  "strengthening,"  as 
he  passed  along,  "all  the  disciples,"  who  ever  and  anon 

*  This  meeting,  it  would  seem,  from  Barnabas  being  mentioned  in 
connexion  with  it,  (Gal.  ii.  13,)  took  place  during  a  former  stay  of  Paul  and 
Barnabas  together  at  Antioch,  (Acts  xv.  35.) — Te. 


64  ST  PAUL. 

were  troubled  by  legal  Judaizers,  the  Apostle  again  reached 
Ephesus,  which  was  destined  to  become  the  golden  link 
between  the  churches  of  the  East  and  West.  Twelve  Pen- 
tecostal sheaves  (Acts  xix.  1-7)  he  was  permitted  here  to 
glean  for  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  when  constrained  by  divers 
hardened  and  unbelieving  Jews  to  leave  their  synagogue, 
("  Behold  your  house  is  left  unto  you  desolate/'  Luke  xiii. 
35,)  he  preached  the  Gospel  for  two  years  in  the  learned 
school  of  Tyrannus,  whither  both  Jews  and  Greeks  from 
far  and  near  resorted,  (Eph.  ii.  11,  &c. ;)  "so  that  all  they 
which  dwelt  in  Asia  heard  the  word  of  the  Lord  Jesus," 
and  Ephesus  became  a  mother  church  to  those  at  Colosse, 
Laodicea,  and  Hierapolis.  Thus  the  Apostle  had  planted 
twelve  churches,  when — standing  upon  the  meridian  of  his 
missionary  career — he  said,  "  I  must  also  see  Eome." 
Ephesus  was  a  mart  for  magic,  and  God,  through  the  work 
of  His  servant,  and  through  the  ''special  miracles"  He 
wrought  by  his  hands,  held  judgment  over  the  gods  of 
Greece,  causing  many  of  the  believers,  who  hitherto  liad 
"  used  curious  arts,"  at  once  so  thoroughly  to  purge  their 
dwellings  of  them,  that  they  brought  together  their  books 
of  sorcery,  to  the  amoimt  of  "  50,000  pieces  of  silver," 
(about  £2000,  at  which  they  had  bought  them,)  "and 
burned  them  before  all  men."  After  what  manner  the 
Apostle  spent  the  "two  years"  among  them,  is  shewn  by 
his  valedictory  address  to  their  elders,  (Acts  xx.  18-35.) 
Twice  he  reminds  them  of  his  tears  in  seeking  to  win  every 
one's  soul.  He  indeed,  says  Chrysostom,  "watered  with 
his  tears  the  seed  he  sowed,"  and  therefore  also  "he  came 
again  with  joy,  and  brought  his  sheaves  with  him."  Man- 
liness was  a  fundamental  feature  both  in  his  natm^al  and 
sanctified  character,  (cf.  1  Cor.  xvi.  13.)  Therefore  his 
manly  tears  must  have  fallen  hot  into  the  souls  he  sought 
to  gain,  (cf.  Phil.  iii.  18.)     "  Weeping  goes  before  working. 


THE  LABOURER.  65 

and  suffering  before  doing,"  says  Luther,  who  in  manliness 
of  mind  was  Paul's  counterpart.  And  the  indefatigable 
labourer  who  wrung  from  his  feeble  body  the  exertions  of 
the  ministerial  workman  under  pain  and  temptation,  who 
ceased  not  from  warning  and  teaching,  both  publicly  and 
from  house  to  house,  devoting  to  it  even  the  night,  as  the 
day  grew  too  short  for  him; — this  ''worker  together  with 
God"  would  yet  work  also  with  his  hands  as  tentmaker,  and 
thus  eat  his  own  bread  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow.  "  I  have 
shewed  you  all  things,"  he  could  say,  "how  that  so  labouring 
ye  ought  to  support  the  weak ;  and  to  remember  the  words 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  how  He  said.  It  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive."  If  the  Apostle  wrote  his  First  Epistle  to 
Timothy  upon  a  visitation-visit  through  Macedonia  to 
Corinth  (2  Cor.  xii.  14,  xiii.  1,  2)  about  this  time,  (which 
from  1  Tim.  iii.  14,  iv.  13,  seems  probable,)  his  pastoral 
exhortations  in  that  epistle  would  point  to  a  special  cause 
for  his  tears.  E'ot  all  the  members  of  the  Ephesian  church 
would  content  themselves  witli  his  teaching  ''that  which 
is  good  to  the  use  of  edifying,"  but  some  would  still  cleave 
to  "fables  and  genealogies,"  and  in  spiritual  pride  of  heart 
affect  to  know  secrets,  whereby  faith  would  sicken  and 
love  grow  cold,  (1  Tim.  i.  4-7,  iv.  7,  vi.  20,  21.)  Tliis 
solicitude  about  the  Ephesians  he  bore  in  his  heart,  toge- 
ther with  the  far  deeper  grief  about  the  Galatians,  whose 
"enemy"  he  had  become,  as  their  false  teachers  would 
make  them  believe,  and  "  of  whom  he  travailed  in  birth 
again,"  (Gal.  iv.  18,  19,)  while  at  Ephesus;  for  there  he 
(doubtless)  wrote  this  Epistle,  wherein,  both  against  their 
legal  false  teachers  and  the  spurious  work-mongers  of  all 
times,  he  declares  his  heaven-revealed  Gospel  of  Christ  as 
the  one,  beside  which  there  is  not  another.  And  still  a  third 
sorrow  came  upon  him  about  this  time.  Already  he  had  sent 
away  Timothy  and  Erastus  into  Macedonia,  to  gather  the 


66  ST  PAUL. 

collection  for  the  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem,  (1  Cor.  xvi.  1, 
&c.,)  when  intelligence  reached  him  from  the  Corinthian 
church,  which  called  for  his  first  epistle  to  them.  An 
Easter  epistle  it  has  been  appropriately  called.  In  view  of 
that  approaching  feast,  he  exhorts  them  to  purge  out 
the  old  leaven  of  malice,  (1  Cor.  v.  6-8,)  reproving  their 
lukewarmness  and  disregard  of  wholesome  church-disci- 
pline, and  further  blaming  them  for  overrating  spiritual 
gifts  in  their  greedy  eagerness  for  inflating  knowledge. 
Yet  while  his  words  at  times  run  like  rolling  thunder  over 
the  heads  of  the  ungrateful  Corinthians,  how  like  a  stream 
runs  through  this  very  epistle  his  Christian  love,  and  how 
worthy  of  being  served  with  the  mysteries  of  God  does  he 
count  His  church  at  Corinth!  And  all  this,  while  at 
Ephesns  he  had  to  fight  with  "  beasts,"  (1  Cor.  xv.  32,)  at 
Satan's  instigation,  who — bent  on  his  destruction — caused 
him  to  be  treated  "  as  the  filth  of  the  world,  and  the  oif- 
scouring  of  all  things"  (1  Cor.  iv.  13,)  because  that  "  a  great 
door  and  effectual  was  opened  nnto  him  at  Epliesus,"  (1  Cor. 
xvi.  8,  9.)  Yet,  unmindful  of  personal  danger,  he  was  only 
solicitous  to  preserve  from  spiritual  harm  the  imperilled 
members  of  his  scattered  flocks.  Daily  pressed  upon  by 
the  care  of  all  the  churches,  he  exclaims  :  "  Who  is  weak, 
and  I  am  not  weak?  who  is  offended,  and  I  burn  not?" 
(2  Cor.  xi.  28,  29.)  Eor  the  wellbeing  of  the  church  at 
Crete  likewise  he  cared  in  these  troublous  days,  by  his 
Epistle  to  Titus,  written  probably  about  the  same  time. 
In  the  tumnlt  raised  at  Ephesus  in  defence  of  Diana  and 
her  silversmiths,  whose  craft  was  in  danger,  the  Lord 
shielded  His  servant — as  aforetime  in  Thessalonica — from 
the  rage  of  an  excited  populace,  through  the  friendly 
counsel  of  "  certain  of  the  chief  of  Asia,"  and  according  to 
Eom.  xvi.  4,  also  by  Priscilla  and  Aquila  risking  their  lives 
for  him ;  but  withal  it  was  again  the  arm  of  legal,  though 


THE  LABOURER.  67 

heathen  authority,  which  here,  as  at  Corinth,  went  to  restrain 
the  evil-doers ;  for  although  the  town-clerk  had  to  throw 
his  official  shield  over  the  Ephesians'  "great  goddess 
Diana,"  yet  he  referred  Demetrius  and  his  fellow-crafts- 
men to  the  open  law,  and  warned  the  people  against  the 
''  danger  of  being  called  in  question  for  this  day's  uproar." 
Thus  graciously  did  the  Lord  answer  the  prayers  of  His 
people,  "  for  kings  and  all  that  are  in  authority,"  (1  Tim. 
ii.  2,)  and  made  their  meek  submission,  according  to  the 
Apostle's  doctrine  and  example,  (Tit.  iii.  1,  2,)  redound  to 
their  own  benefit  and  protection  under  persecution.  (Cf. 
Acts  xix.) 

Pentecost,  till  which  time  Paul  desired  to  tarry  at 
Ephesus,  (1  Cor.  xvi.  8,)  was  fast  approaching,  and  the 
Church  was  again  in  peace.  Like  one  raised  from  the 
dead,  he  stood  among  his  brethren,  (2  Cor.  i.  8-11.)  Abun- 
dantly comforted  by  the  unlooked-for  happy  termination 
of  the  uproar,  he  once  more  called  unto  him  the  disciples, 
and  embracing  them,  departed  for  Macedonia,  (Acts  xx.  1.) 
He  made  his  first  halt  at  Troas,  Avhere  a  door  to  preach  the 
Gospel  was  opened  unto  him  of  the  Lord.  But  "  I  had  no 
rest  in  my  spirit,"  he  writes,  "because  I  found  not  Titus 
my  brother,"  (2  Cor.  ii.  12,  13.)  What  hurried  him  thus 
restless  from  Troas's  open  door?  He  had  sent  Titus  to 
relieve  Timothy  at  Corinth.  How  could  he  remain  quiet 
at  Troas,  while  ruin  was  menacing  his  vineyard  at  Corinth  ? 
These  sad  apprehensions  about  them  followed  him  to  Mace- 
donia ;  "  for,  when  we  were  come  into  Macedonia,"  he  again 
A\T?ites,  "our  flesh  had  no  rest,  but  we  were  troubled  on  every 
side  :  without  were  fightings,  within  were  fears,"  (2  Cor.  vii. 
5.)  In  Macedonia,  however,  where  the  Churcli  flourished  in 
fair  spiritual  beauty  (2  Cor.  viii.,*)  he  met  Timothy  with 
good  news  from  Corinth,  which  made  him  at  once  begin  to 
write  to  his  beloved  Corinthians  a  second  time.    Thereupon, 


68  ST  PAUL. 

shortly  after,  Titus  also  arrived,  whose  more  recent  glad 
tidings  about  them  made  him  abound  in  joy :  "  0  ye  Corin- 
thians, our  mouth  is  enlarged,"  (2  Cor.  vi.  11 ;)  "  God,  that 
comforteth  those  that  are  cast  down,  comforted  us  by  the 
coming  of  Titus,"  (2  Cor.  vii.  6 ;)  for  he  told  Paul  and 
Timothy  of  the  Corinthians'  "  earnest  desire,"  of  their 
"  mourning,"  and  their  "  fervent  mind"  toward  the  Apostle, 
whom  they  had  grieved.  Of  all  epistles,  this  paints  the 
Apostle  most  clearly  before  our  eyes.  "  With  many  tears  " 
he  had  written  his  first  letter,  (2  Cor.  ii.  4 ;)  and  in  this 
second  one,  too,  the  Corinthians  could  not  fail  to  see  the 
traces  of  his  moistened  eyes.  "  I  trust,"  says  the  faithful 
shepherd — whom  the  Lord  never  permits  to  become  an 
hireling — "I  trust  ye  shall  acknowledge  even  to  the  end, 
as  also  ye  have  acknowledged  us  in  part,  that  we  are  your 
rejoicing,  even  as  ye  also  are  ours  in  the  day  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,"  (2  Cor.  i.  13,  14.)  His  heart  so  thrills  with  emo- 
tions in  "longing"  after  them,  ''for  the  exceeding  grace  of 
God  in  them,"  and  so  exults  in  the  glory  of  his  apostolic 
of&ce,  which  God  enables  him  faithfully  to  discharge,  that 
he  can  hardly  find  utterance  for  the  thoughts^ that  rush  in 
upon  his  mind  like  flashes  of  lightning,  and  he  strains 
every  nerve  to  give  expression  to  the  inexpressible  love  his 
spirit  breathes. 

Having  penetrated  to  Illyricum,*  (Eom.  xv.  19,)  the 
Apostle  wintered  three  months  in  Greece,  (Acts  xx.  1-3,) 
and  Gains  of  Derbe  became  his  host  at  Corinth,  (Eom.  xvi. 
23.)  This  period  is  marked  by  a  double  labour  of  love, 
answering  to  the  twofold  magnet  by  which  he  was  drawn. 
It  was  now  that  he  completed  the  long-desired  collection 
for  the  poor  saints  at  Jerusalem ;  thereby  forming  a  bond 
of  peaceful  union  between  the  mother  and  her  daughter 
churches,  which  might  well  have  attracted  the  unbelieving 
Jews  to  Zion's  beauty,  (cf.  2  Cor.  viii.  and  ix.,  and  Eom.  xv. 


THE  LABOURER.  69 

25,  &c. ;)  and  it  was  here  lie  wrote  to  the  Eomans  that 
pearl  of  all  his  epistles,  which  evinces  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  that  city  to  be  indeed  the  fruit  of  his  apostolic  labour, 
although  he  had  not  as  yet  reached  it  in  person,  (Eom.  xv. 
22,  &c. ;)  for  it  stamps  his  seal  upon  ''that  form  of  doc- 
trine," (Eom.  vi.  17)  which,  not  through  ''another  man's," 
(Eom.  XV.  20,)  but  his  own  labour,  had  been  delivered  to 
them — viz.,  through  those  several  evangelic  messengers, 
whose  "beautiful"  footsteps  had  preceded  him  thither  with 
the  message  of  his  apostolical  preaching,  (cf.  Eom.  xvi.) 
"More  boldly"  (Eom.  xv.  15)  does  his  spirit  soar  in  this 
than  any  other  of  his  epistles,  testifying  to  the  Church  in 
that  capital  of  the  world,  that  he  is  not  ashamed  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ,  inasmuch  as  "  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation  to  every  one  that  believeth ;  to  the  Jew  first,  and 
also  to  the  Greek,"  (Eom.  i.  16.)  There  falls  the  hammer 
of  his  heavenly  dialectic  power  with  crushing  force  upon 
man's  corruption,  till  all  boasting  is  excluded,  (Eom.  iii.  27,) 
and  the  blows  of  his  forcible  logic  lay  the  creature  and  her 
reason  prostrate  in  the  dust  before  God,  (Eom.  ix.  20.) 
Most  prominent  in  this  epistle  is  the  peculiar  sequence  of 
his  thoughts,  forming — as  an  able  judge  expresses  it — "  a 
strong  tissue  woven  of  sinews  and  muscles,  a  living  string 
of  ramified  tendons,  like  the  rows  of  pillars  and  arches  in  a 
Gothic  cathedral,  or  like  one  of  Handel's  grand  fugues."  The 
boldness  with  which  he  writes,  and  which  at  times  excites 
even  his  own  humble  gaze,  we  learn  to  understand,  if  we 
bear  in  mind  the  historical  standing-place  from  whence  he 
writes.  Set  at  large  out  of  narrow  straits,  led  from  depths 
up  to  a  lofty  height,  there  stands  the  great  Apostle  of  the 
Gentiles  at  Corinth,  looking,  as  from  the  summit  of  a 
mountain,  back  eastwards  to  Jerusalem,  forward  into  the 
west — to  Eome,  and  beyond  it  into  Spain.  As  far  as  to 
lUyricum  he  has  spread  the  Gospel-net,  and  built  up  the 


70  ST  PAUL. 

evangelical  altar,  -upon  wliich  the  Gentiles,  sanctified 
through  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  being  offered  unto  God  a  sweet 
savour  of  Christ.  His  prophetic  eye  already  views  the 
church  at  Eonie  as  heiress  to  that  of  Jerusalem ;  and,  clad 
in  the  bright  armour  of  his  strong  knowledge,  he  brings  to 
bear  all  the  experience  of  his  heaven-taught  wisdom  on 
the  service  of  God  in  the  Gospel  of  His  Son,  (Eom.  i.  9,) 
which  is  also  "  his  gospel,"  (Eom.  xvi.  25,)  in  order  so  to 
strengthen  and  consolidate  that  Church — of  Jew  and 
Gentile  joined  in  One, — that  she  might  become  a  pillar 
of  the  One,  Holy,  Catholic,  and  Apostolic  Church.  And 
though  her  candlestick  has  been  removed  out  of  its  place, 
here,  in  Paul's  epistle,  it  stands  unshaken,  and  sheds 
through  the  universe  its  inextinguishable  light.  Where 
its  doctrine  reigns,  there  is  Eome's  and  Jerusalem's  legiti- 
mate heiress.  An  Erasmus,  with  a  shrug  of  his  shoulder, 
could  utter  the  wanton  word :  "  The  abstruseness  of  the 
Eoman  epistle  excels  its  utility ; "  but  Luther  called  it  the 
Lord's  lantern,  illuminating  all  the  chambers  of  Holy 
Writ.  Thanks  be  to  God  for  this  truest  bulwark  of  the 
Gospel,  this  choicest  flower  of  Paul's  evangelical  labour, 
a  very  amaranth,  unfading  and  immortal !     Amen. 

"  Strive,  when  thou  art  call'd  of  God, 
When  He  draws  thee  by  His  grace, 
Strive  to  cast  away  the  load 
That  would  clog  thee  in  the  race. 

"  Fight,  though  it  may  cost  thy  life ; 
Storm  the  kingdom,  but  prevail ; 
Let  not  Satan's  fiercest  strife, 
Make  thy  heart  to  faint  or  quail. 

"  Wrestle,  till  through  every  vein, 
Love  and  strength  are  glowing  warm  : 
Paul's  love  could  the  world  disdain, 
Half-love  will  not  bide  the  storm."* 

*  In  these  and  other  verses  in  the  remaining  chapters,  I  have  mostly 
followed  the  "  Lyra  Germanica." — Tr. 


VI. 

THE  PEISONEE  OF  JESUS  CHEIST. 

"  Being  such  an  one  as  Paul  the  aged,  and  now  also  a  prisoner  of  Jesus 
Christ." — Philem.  9. 

Ere  the  Apostle  was  bound  ''  in  bonds/'  (Epb.  vi.  20,)  he 
was  bound  in  the  spirit : — 

"  OLove!  who  thus  hast  bound  me  fast 
Beneath  that  gentle  yoke  of  Thine  ; 
Love,  who  hast  conquer'd  me  at  last, 
And  rapt  away  this  heart  of  mine  ; 
0  Love  !  I  give  myself  to  Thee, 
Thine  ever,  only  Thine  to  be." 

Thus  it  sounded  in  Paul's  soul  ever  since  the  day  that  he 
became  "the  won  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  To  do  nothing 
against,  but  all  for  the  truth,  (2  Cor.  xiii.  8;)  to  "suffer" — not 
as  an  evil-doer,  but  for  Christ's  sake — "  even  unto  bonds," 
(2  Tim.  ii.  9;)  to  be  made  a  spectacle  unto  the  world,  and 
to  angels,  and  to  men ;  yea,  and  to  become  a  fool,  if  it  be 
but  for  Christ's  sake,  (1  Cor.  iv.  9,  10;)  such  was  the  mind 
of  "  the  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ,"  unto  whom  the  world 
was  crucified  by  Christ,  and  he  unto  the  world,  (Gal.  vi.  14.) 
A  true  bondman  of  Christ  he  was,  who  bore  in  his  body 
the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  (Gal.  vi.  17.)  Thus  not 
spiritually  only,  but  also  bodily  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  call 
His  servant  to  the  state  of  a  bondman;  and  with  what 
patience,  nay,  even  exultation,  did  the  Apostle  bear  these 
bonds  of  his,  as  an  order  of  honour  to  him,  and  a  glory  to 
Christ's  Church,  (Eph.  iii.  13.)    The  remembrance  of  Peter's 


72  ST  PAUL. 

falling  chains*  (Acts  xii.  7)  is  hardly  so  glorious  and  so 
edifying  as  that  of  St  Paul  rejoicing  in  his  chains,  and 
triumphing  over  all  enemies,  as  shewn  in  his  last  five 
Epistles,  and  the  last  eight  chapters  of  the  Acts. 

Where  the  Apostle  speaks  to  the  Eomans  of  his  purposed 
journey  to  Jerusalem,  there  he  also  beseeches  them  to  strive 
together  with  him  in  their  prayers  to  God  for  him,  that 
he  may  '  be  delivered  from  them  that  do  not  believe  in 
Jud^a,"  and  that  his  service  may  be  accepted  of  the  saints 
at  Jerusalem,  (Eom.  xv.  25-31.)  A  service  of  love  truly 
this  journey  was.  Surrounded  by  the  first-fruits  of  his 
harvest  among  the  Gentiles,  seven  in  number,  (Acts  xx.  4,) 
he  embarked  for  Asia,  bearing  in  his  ministering  hands 
tokens  of  sympathy  and  love  from  his  heathen  converts  to 
those  of  the  true  Israel  at  Jerusalem.  Wlien  Jesus  held 
His  royal  entry  into  Jerusalem,  there  were  certain  Greeks 
who  desired  to  see  Him,  before  whom  and  the  still  enthu- 
siastic multitude  the  Lord  spoke  that  inimitable  word  about 
the  corn  of  wdieat  that  must  fall  into  the  ground  and  die 
ere  it  can  bring  forth  fruit.  ^N'ow  this  was  accomplished, 
and  Paul  brought  the  first-fruits  of  the  Lord  to  Jerusalem. 
"If  any  man  serve  me,  let  him  follow  me,"  continued 
Christ,  and  His  servant  Paul  followed  Him  on  the  w^ay  of 
self-devotion  even  unto  death.  His  journey  to  Jerusalem 
bears  indeed  some  resemblance  to  that  which  the  church 
calls  on  us  to  remember  on  every  Sunday  before  Lent : — 
"  Behold  we  go  up  to  Jerusalem,"  (Luke  xviii.  31.)  He 
that  raised  Lazarus  is  drawn  by  the  cords  of  love  to  go  as 
a  lamb  to  the  slaughter;  he  that  raised  Eutychus  by  the 
power  of  Christ,  is  drawn  after  Him  by  the  powder  of  His 
love.  Well  might  Paul,  over  the  eucharistic  table  at  Troas, 
continue  his  speech  till  midnight,  (Acts  xx.  7 ;)  for  they 

*  Celebrated  by  the  Eoman  Catholics  on  their  so-called  *•  Lammas-day," 
(1st  of  August.) 


THE  PRISONEK  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  73 

were  parting  words  inspired  by  the  Comforter,  in  view  of 
his  way  of  suffering;  and  in  his  solitary  walk  ''  afoot"  from 
Troas  to  Assos  (ib.  ver.  13)  he  still  strengthened  his  soul 
in  God,  while,  like  his  heavenly  Master,  "  he  steadfastly 
set  his  face  to  Jerusalem."  "And  now,"  he  says  to  the 
Ephesian  elders  at  Miletus,  "behold,  I  go  bound  in  the 
spirit  unto  Jerusalem,  not  knoAving  the  things  that  shall 
befall  me  there :  save  that  the  Holy  Ghost  witnesseth  in 
every  city,  saying  that  bonds  and  afflictions  abide  me/' 
That  he  expected  the  eve  of  his  labour  drawing  nigh,  and 
spoke  in  view  of  his  approaching  martyrdom,  this  we  feel 
through  the  whole  of  that  valedictory  address,  at  which  we 
have  already  before  taken  occasion  to  glance.  Under  the 
cross-predicting  witness  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he  departs 
hence,  with  only  this  object  in  view,  to  "  finish  his  course 
with  joy,  and  to  testify  the  Gospel  of  the  grace  of  God," 
if  by  any  means — whether  by  word  or  deed,  preaching  or 
suffering — he  might  provoke  to  emulation  them  which  are 
his  flesh,  and  might  save  some  of  them,  (Eom.  xi.  14;)  a 
true  Benjamite,  he  was  stiU  bent  on  "  dividing  the  spoil 
at  night,"  (Gen.  xlix.  29,)  even  in  Jerusalem.  By  enjoin- 
ing them  to  take  heed  to  the  flock,  over  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  had  made  them  overseers,  and  to  watch  against  the 
''grievous  wolves,"  which  after  his  departure  would  enter 
in  among  them,  "  not  sparing  the  flock," — Paul  made  his 
testament  with  the  elders  of  the  Ephesian  church.  Yea, 
and  he  told  them  openly,  "  Behold,  I  know  that  ye  all, 
among  whom  I  have  gone  preaching  the  kingdom  of  God, 
shall  see  my  face  no  more."  This  "  I  know"  seems  to 
contradict  a  later  "knowing"  of  the  Apostle.  ''Having 
this  confidence,"  he  writes  to  the  Philippians  from  Eome, 
"  I  know  that  I  shall  abide  and  continue  with  you  all  for 
your  furtherance  and  joy  of  faith,"  (Phil.  i.  25;)  and  in  this 
confidence  he  asks  the  Colossian  Philemon  (ver.  22)  to  pre- 


74  ST  PAUL. 

pare  him  a  lodging.  But  what  is  contradictory  to  reason 
is  edifying  to  faith.  The  prayers  and  tears  of  his  flocks 
have  snatched  Paul  from  the  jaws  of  death.  The  Lord, 
who  heareth  prayer,  added  to  his  numbered  days,  as  to 
Hezekiah's  aforetime,  years  still  of  fruit-working  labour. 
"  I  trust  that  through  your  prayers  I  shall  be  given  unto 
you,"  writes  the  "  prisoner  in  Christ  Jesus"  to  Philemon. 
The  prayers  of  the  Church  formed  a  fiery  wall  about  the 
Apostle.  His  disconsolate  children,  who  there  at  Miletus 
all  fen  on  Paul's  neck  and  wept  sore,  were  not  to  be  kept 
back  by  his  word — that  they  should  see  his  face  no  more 
— from  supplicating  the  Lord  for  his  life;  yea,  it  would 
make  them  cry  more  fervently: — "  Notwithstanding,  dear 
Jesus,  we  beseech  Thee,  save  and  preserve  unto  us  our 
Paul,  Thy  servant ! "  It  was  to  incite  such  prayers  in  the 
Church,  "  for  a  sweet-smelling  savour  to  God,"  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  witnessed  of  Paul's  bonds  in  every  city.  (Cf. 
Acts  XX.) 

In  towns  also  which  his  foot  had  never  trod,  the  Apostle 
found  disciples  of  Christ,  whom  he  blessed;  and  they 
blessed  him,  for  whom  he  prayed,  and  they  for  him.  Paul 
may  be  bound  unto  death,  but  "  the  word  of  God  is  not 
bound."  It  shall  ride  over  all  the  high  places  of  the  earth; 
it  shall  accomplish  that  which  the  Lord  pleases,  and  shall 
prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  He  sends  it;  yea,  it  shall  run 
and  be  glorified,  till  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth  shall 
become  the  kingdoms  of  God  and  of  His  Christ.  At 
Csesarea  Paul  entered  the  house  of  Philip,  the  brother 
evangelist  of  blessed  Stephen,  who  once  had  to  flee  from 
Jerusalem  before  Saul's  slaughter-breathing  spirit,  (Acts 
viii.)  Now  his  four  virgin  daughters  prophesied  to  Paul 
of  the  cross  he  was  so  willing  to  bear.  They  were  joined 
in  this  by  that  Agabus,  whose  former  prophecy  had  girt 
the  younger  Paul  for  a  more  joyous  journey  to  Jerusalem, 


THE  PRISONER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  75 

(Acts  xi.  28-30.)  To  this,  his  fifth  and  last,  he  is  also  to 
gird  him.  "  He  took  Paul's  girdle,  and  bound  his  own 
hands  and  feet,  and  said.  Thus  saith  the  Holy  Ghost,  So 
shall  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem  bind  the  man  that  owneth  this 
girdle,  and  shall  deliver  him  into  the  hands  of  the  Gen- 
tiles.'' Oft  had  the  Apostle  buckled  on  his  girdle,  and  in 
all  his  journeyings  among  the  heathen  (2  Cor.  xi.  26)  had 
ever  borne  Jerusalem  in  his  heart.  Besides  his  love  for 
the  poor  believers  there,  it  was  at  this  time  his  inextin- 
guishable love  for  the  still  poorer  unbelievers,  w^hich  drew 
him  to  Jerusalem.  And  yet  at  this  very  time  they  were 
going  to  quench  his  thirst  after  their  salvation  with  vinegar, 
as  they  had  done  Christ's  upon  the  cross.  His  great  heavi- 
ness and  continual  sorrow  of  heart,  the  desire  of  his  heroic 
love,  wherewith  he  could  wish  to  purchase  his  brethren's 
salvation  at  the  price  of  his  own,  (Eom.  ix.  1-3,)  all  was  to 
remain  unstilled.  Yea,  his  most  ardent  affection,  instead  of 
melting  them,  was  only  going  the  more  to  harden  and  to 
steel  the  hearts  of  his  infatuated  nation  against  Jesus,  their 
Saviour.  These,  and  not  bodily  bonds  alone,  were  meant  by 
Agabus's  girding.  But  "  Paul  the  aged"  allowed  himself  to 
be  girded  and  led,  whither  Saul  the  Benjamite  would  not. 

"  If  by  the  light  of  heavenly  grace 

I  may  but  know  Thy  will, 
And  see  through  doubts  and  fears  Thy  face. 

My  soul  shall  hold  Thee  still. 
Though  Thou  deniest  my  heart's  best  wish, 

I  '11  not  repine,  Thy  will  be  mine ! 

I  have  no  other  will  but  Thine." 

To  such  fervent  aspirations  the  Lord  would  draw  Paul's 
soul,  when  about  to  pass  through  his  severest  trial,  that  of 
witnessing  Israel's  downfall  by  rejecting  her  Saviour.  Yet 
to  Jerusalem  his  steps  were  bent,  and  whatever  ills  might 
betide,  it  was  the  Lord's  way  he  went.     When,  therefore, 


76  ST  PAUL. 

his  best  friends,  Timothy  and  Luke  included,  and  doubt- 
less Philip  also,  his  kind  host,  who  well  knew  Jerusalem 
and  Christ's  cross  too, — ^when  all,  anxious  to  have  his  life 
spared  for  the  Gentiles,  besought  him  with  tears  not  to 
go  up  to  Jerusalem,  then,  indeed,  he  stood  there  as  one 
that  had  counted  the  cost;  and  severe  as  might  be  the 
struggle  against  the  flesh,  crying,  "  Spare  thyself!"  Christ 
gave  him  the  victory,  and  "  Paul  answered.  What  mean 
ye  to  weep  and  to  break  mine  heart?  for  I  am  ready,  not 
to  be  bound  only,  but  also  to  die  at  Jerusalem  for  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus."  Ay,  whether  at  Jerusalem  or  Eome, 
if  it  be  but  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  all  shall  be 
well.  Thus  Paul  felt,  and  therefore  the  most  importunate 
solicitations  of  his  well-meaning  and  best-beloved  brethren 
in  Christ  could  not  wring  the  cup  from  his  hand.  He 
would  pay  his  vows  unto  the  Lord,  (Ps.  cxvi.  13-15;)  and 
his  original  commission  ran  : — "  Bear  my  name  before  the 
Gentiles,  and  kings,  and  the  children  of  Israel,"  (Acts  ix. 
15.)  When  Luther  was  met  before  Worms  by  his  beloved 
Spalatin's  message,  entreating  him  not  to  venture  into  the 
city,  the  Lord  strengthened  him  to  tread  in  Paul's  foot- 
steps. ''  The  Lord's  will  be  done,"  said  the  brethren,  and 
they  set  out  silently  toward  Jerusalem.  They  "ceased" 
their  importunities  with  Paul,  but  not  with  the  Lord;  and 
His  gracious  will  they  obtained,  to  their  unspeakable  joy. 
Soon,  indeed,  they  were  to  see  their  beloved  teacher, 
"  bound  with  two  chains,"  in  the  hands  of  th.B  Gentiles ; 
but  theirs  were  saving  hands ;  and  what  they  desired  for 
the  good  of  Christ's  Church  was  done,  not  in  spite,  but  by 
means  of  the  Apostle's  bonds  at  Jerusalem.  Eejoice,  then, 
ye  that  pray  for  Zion,  and  say  "  Amen  "  to  Paul's  doxology 
— "  Unto  Him  that  is  able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly  above 
all  that  we  ask  or  think,  according  to  the  power  that 
worketh  in  us,  unto  Him  be  glory  in  the  church  by  Christ 


THE  PRISONER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST,  77 

Jesus  throughout  all  ages,"  (Eph.  iii.  20.)     Cf.  Acts  xxi. 
1-15. 

Accompanied  by  certain  disciples  of  Csesarea,  Paul  en- 
tered Jerusalem  on  tlie  eve,  probably,  of  Pentecost.  In 
order  thus  best  to  overcome  the  prejudices  of  the  dissatis- 
fied Jewish  believers,  he  was  with  his  party  warily  con- 
ducted to  the  house  of  Mnason,  an  old  disciple  of  Cyprus, 
experienced  in  the  way  of  the  Lord.  As  he  trod  the 
streets  of  that  beloved  city,  it  might  sound  in  his  heart, 
"  I  will  very  gladly  spend  and  be  spent  for  you ;  though 
the  more  abundantly  I  love  you,  the  less  I  be  loved," 
(2  Cor.  xii.  15.)  On  the  following  day  Paul  went  to 
James  the  Lord's  brother,  where  he  met  all  the  elders, 
and  was  well  received  by  them.  Four  years  had  passed 
since  they  last  met,  and  he  declared  to  them  one  by  one 
what,  during  this  period,  God  had  wrought  among  the 
Gentiles  by  his  ministry ;  "  and  when  they  had  heard 
it,  they  glorified  the  Lord."  These  elders,  and  especially 
James, — who  remained  in  the  darkened  city  after  the  other 
apostles  left  it, — were  lighting  the  troubled  flock  with  the 
lamp  of  life,  and  to  their  Christian  fidelity  the  Apostle  after- 
wards bears  the  highest  testimony,  (Heb.  xiii.  7-17.)  It  was 
from  respect  to  them,  that  he  felt  himself  bound  to  yield 
to  their  request,  that  he  w^ould  purify  himself,  and  so  satisfy 
the  thousands  of  prejudiced  Jews,  just  then  for  the  feast  at 
Jerusalem.  If  they  saw  with  their  own  eyes  that  the 
preacher  of  evangelical  liberty,  and  of  righteousness  by 
faith  without  works,  could  also  observe  the  law,  where  it 
might  do  good,  would  not  they  be  constrained  then  to 
open  their  hearts  to  this  gracious  guest  visiting  the  Lord's 
feast  ?  James  and  his  elders  hoped  so ;  and  Paul,  in  the 
love  that  ''  hopeth  aU  things,"  would  willingly  become  a 
servant  to  his  weaker  brethren  in  all  things  lawful.  It 
was  not  uncommon  among  the  Jews,  that  poor  Nazarites 


78  ST  PAUL. 

had  tlie  temple-costs  of  their  vows  defrayed  by  their 
wealthier  brethren,  who  thus  partook  in  their  services. 
In  this  manner  Paul  was  "at  charges"  with  four  poor 
Nazarites.  In  a  more  conciliating  way  he  could  not  have 
acted.  Yet  we  hear  nothing  of  the  effect  it  produced. 
But  the  false  Jews,  and  foremost  those  of  Asia,  stirred  up 
the  people,  and  laid  hands  on  him,  raising  the  same  cry 
ao-ainst  him,  in  which  aforetime  he  also  had  joined  against 
Stephen ;  and  he  would  have  perished  under  their  murder- 
ous hands,  had  not  the  Eoman  soldiers  come  with  aU 
speed  to  his  rescue.  No  honest  Israelite  aided  him.  Thus 
it  was  again  the  heathen  authorities  to  whom  he  was 
indebted  for  protection  from  the  lynch-law  of  the  rabble. 
Bound  with  two  chains,  after  Eoman  custom,  he  was  con- 
veyed to  the  imperial  barracks  amid  the  cries  of  the  mob  : 
— "  Away  with  him ! "  and  up  the  stairs  conducting  to  the 
Antonian  castle  he  had  to  be  "  borne  of  the  soldiers  for 
the  violence  of  the  people."  Thus  strangely  was  the 
saviour  of  the  Gentiles  saved  by  Gentile  hands.  Yet  no 
sooner  did  he  stand  again  on  his  feet,  and  look  down  upon 
the  throngs  gathered  on  the  slope  of  the  castle,  than  he 
resolved  to  make  the  top  of  the  stairs  his  pulpit,  and 
testify  to  his  blind  brethren  of  his  happiness,  even  in 
bonds,  as  the  won  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  The  Eoman  chief 
took  him  for  a  notorious  Egyptian  bandit,  who  under  pre- 
tence of  being  a  prophet,  had  recently  fooled  thousands  of 
misguided  Jews  into  a  revolt  against  the  Eoman  yoke. 
But  the  prisoner's  courteous  request,  in  Greek,  to  be  per- 
mitted to  address  the  people,  astonished  the  Eoman,  and 
stiU  more  the  civil  yet  dignified  and  manly  bearing  of  the 
iU-treated  citizen  of  Tarsus.  He  therefore  gave  him  licence 
to  speak.  How  reproving  does  this  Claudius  Lysias  stand 
in  front  of  the  raging  Jews  !  and  how  friendly  and  signifi- 
cantly did  the  Lord  from  heaven  beckon  to  his  prisoner, 


THE  PEISONER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  79 

to  mark  and  understand,  in  whose  castle  lie  was  secure  I 
(Cf.  Acts  xxi.  16-40.) 

From  this  time  forth,  down  to  its  goal, — his  arrival  at 
Eome, — the  history  of  the  Lord's  prisoner  is  one  chain  of 
marvellons  deliverances,  wrought  by  explainable  means, 
yet  wonderfully  providential.  That  the  word  of  God  was 
not  bound,  though  he  was,  (2  Tim.  ii.  9,)  the  Apostle  now 
proves  in  a  series  of  bold  defences  of  the  Gospel,  for  which 
his  very  bonds  gave  him  the  welcome  occasion.  Their 
leading  apologetic  outlines  are  : — Jesus  of  Nazareth  is  the 
Christ ;  Paul,  His  apostle,  is  a  true  Israelite ;  and  the 
despised  sect  of  the  Nazarene  is  the  heir  to  the  promises 
of  God's  chosen  people.  In  narrating  to  the  people  of 
Jerusalem  the  history  of  his  conversion  from  Pharisaic 
darkness  to  the  light  of  Divine  grace  in  Christ  Jesus,  he 
smartly  knocks  at  the  door  of  their  consciences.  He  does 
not  spare  himself  the  pain  of  circumstantially  relating 
what  he  has  been,  in  order  to  draw  his  benighted  brethren 
to  become  what  now  he  was  through  grace.  With  delicate 
tact,  enough  to  veil  from  the  ear  of  the  Eoman  soldiers  his 
confessions,  as  unable  to  understand  them,  he  spoke  in 
Hebrew.  From  the  heart  of  the  Hebrew  his  words 
would  best  find  their  way  to  Hebrew  hearts.  But  theirs 
were  hardened,  "  according  as  it  is  written,"  (Eom.  xi.  8.) 
A  learned  disquisition  about  the  relation  of  their  law  to 
the  Gospel  might  have  pleased  them  better.  Paul's  theo- 
logy of  facts  was  unbearable  to  them,  they  having  before 
determined  :  ''  Away  with  him ! "  Yet  this  worn  and 
insignificant-looking  man,  who  "  turned  the  world  upside 
down  "  by  his  preaching,  knew  how  to  exact  silence  from 
them,  and  "they  gave  him  audience  unto  that  word," 
wherewith  he  quoted  his  commission  from  Jesus :  "  De- 
part, for  I  will  send  thee  far  hence  to  the  Gentiles."  This 
excited  their  rage.     Of  the  "beds  of  spices,"  planted  in 


80  ST  PAUL. 

the  garden  of  the  Gentiles  by  our  heavenly  Solomon,  to 
provoke  by  theh^  loveliness  his  faithless  "  Shulamite,"  to 
return  from  the  wilderness,  (Song  of  Solomon  vi.  2-13,  viii. 
5;) — of  the  "broken  off  branches"  of  their  own  ''olive- 
tree,"  making  place  for  the  "grafl&ng  in  among  them"  of 
the  "  wild  olive-tree,"  (Rom.  xi.,) — they  would  hear  no- 
thing. They  would  have  stoned  him  like  Stephen,  had 
not  the  Eoman  camp  been  his  city  of  refuge.  In  the 
**holy"  camp  of  Israel,  now  turned  into  "La-ammi," 
(Hos.  i.  9,)  this  citizen  of  the  true  Israel  was  doomed 
to  die — in  that  of  the  Gentiles,  the  Roman  citizen  finds 
protection  under  the  ''powers  that  be."  Caesar  is  re- 
spected in  his  camp — the  King  of  Israel  despised  in  that 
of  His  people.  This  tragical  event  in  Paul's  life,  the 
preludes  to  which  we  saw  at  Thessalonica  and  Corinth, 
is  completed  here  in  Jerusalem;  and  however  grating 
to  the  Israelite  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  Paul,  the 
prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ,  is  resigned  to  it.  Yea,  recog- 
nising in  it  the  Lord's  protecting  hand,  and  averse  to  all 
straining  after  martyrdom,  he  stays  the  "thongs"  and  lash 
of  the  inquisition,  by  his  resolute  appeal  to  the  centurion, 
(made  more  timely  than  aforetime  at  Philippi :) — "  Is  it  law- 
ful for  you  to  scourge  a  Roman,  and  uncondemned  ? " 
Caesar's  men  understanding  his  polished  Greek  better  than 
the  Jews  their  holy  Hebrew,  Lysias  "straightway"  had 
his  bands  loosed,  and  commanded  the  chief  priests  and  all 
their  council  to  appear  before  him  "  on  the  morrow."  (Cf. 
Acts  xxii.) 

There,  then,  stands  the  Apostle  in  their  midst,  a  prisoner 
indeed,  but  the  prisoner  of  the  Lord,  only  given  into 
Caesar's  custody,  who  has  to  serve  as  "  the  minister  of  God 
to  him  for  good,"  by  procuring  him  audience.  With  a 
quick  apprehension  of  his  situation,  unprovoked  by  their 
treatment,  and  penetrated  only  with  the  desire  to  omit 


THE  PEISONER  OF  JESUS  CHEIST.  81 

nothing  that  might  tend  to  remove  the  veil  from  their 
faces,  Paul  stood  "earnestly  beholding  the  council,"  and 
ready  for  his  defence.  No  one  called  on  him,  but  the 
frowning  looks  of  the  Pharisees  spoke  defiance  to  the 
renegade;  when  thns  he  began:  "Men  and  brethren,  I 
have  lived  in  all  good  conscience  before  God  nntil  this 
day."  They  had  thought  this  former  Pharisee  must  have 
corrupted  and  subverted  his  conscience;  but  Paul  knew 
all  he  did  to  be  the  doing  of  the  faith  of  Christ ;  and 
therefore,  by  the  grace  of  God,  he  could  rejoice  in  the 
testimony  of  his  conscience,  (2  Cor.  i.  12.)  Now,  only, 
since  Christ  was  born  in  him,  did  he  serve  the  God  of  his 
fathers  with  a  pure  conscience,  (2  Tim.  i.  3,)  and  had  found 
that  which  out  of  Christ  he  had  sought  in  vain.  Ananias, 
the  high  priest,  felt  the  sting  of  the  accusation  in  Pauls 
words,  and  commanded  to  ''smite  him  on  the  mouth." 
Had  this  drawn  from  "the  choleric"  Paul  a  passionate 
expression,  he  still  would  remain  what  he  is,  for  a  sinless 
saint  he  is  made  only  by  over-pious  bigotry.  It  being, 
however,  more  than  improbable,  that,  by  his  of&cial  dress 
and  his  seat  of  dignity,  the  Apostle  should  not  have  known 
him  to  be  the  high  priest,  we  deem  his  curse,  "  God  shall 
smite  thee,  thou  whited  wall,"  not  an  unwitting  sin  against 
God's  command,  "  Thou  shalt  not  curse  the  ruler  of  thy 
people,"  (Exod.  xxii.  28 ;)  and  his  explanation,  "  I  wist  not, 
brethren,  that  he  was  the  high  priest,"  not  an  apology  for 
such  sin.  It  was  the  putrefaction  of  Ananias'  ungodli- 
ness, exlialed  from  beneath  the  whitewash  of  his  legal 
dignity,  that  made  unknowable  the  bearer  of  the  high- 
priestly  office.  Paul  looked  upon  Ananias  as  God  looked 
upon  him,  and  recognised  in  him  the  transgressor  of  the 
law,  and  not  the  judge  after  the  law.*     And,  lo,  Paul's 

-"-  It  is  witli  the  author's  consent,  that  I  express  my  dissent  from  his 
view  on  this  passage — which  he  has  given  more  at  large,  and  corroborated 

F 


82  ST  PAUL. 

address  of  "brethren"  struck  upon  tlie  hearts  of  some  of 
the  Pharisees,  to  whom  the  Sadducees  "  sitting  in  Moses' 
seat "  was  obnoxious.  The  presence  of  mind  and  serpent- 
wisdom,  wherewith  Paul  knew  how  to  take  advantage  of 
the  party-spirit  in  the  council,  puts  us  in  mind  of  Luther's 
word,  "Where  grace  meets  a  man,  by  nature  clever  and 
ingenious,  it  makes  use  of  him  for  the  benefit  of  others/' 
Paul's  sense  not  unfrequently  draws  admiration  even  from 
worldly  people ;  but  they  do  not  think  or  understand,  that 
Christian  Paul  acts  everywhere,  and  so  here  before  the 
council,  with  all  good  conscience,  always  uniting  with  the 
serpent-wisdom  the  harmlessness  of  the  dove,  (Matt.  x.  16.) 
His  is  not  the  wily  shrewdness  of  a  crafty  Jew.  It  was  not 
with  the  cunning  of  the  lawyer,  but  the  prudence  of  the 
pastor,  that  with  the  wedge  of  his  timely  exclamation — 
"  Men  and  brethren,  I  am  a  Pharisee,  the  son  of  a  Pharisee, 
of  the  hope  and  resurrection  of  the  dead  I  am  called  in 
question," — he  split  into  two  the  hostile  camp,  which  was 
only  kept  together  by  their  common  enmity  to  the  risen 
Jesus;  and  sought  to  gain  over  to  his  faith  the  confessors 
of  the  hope  of  Israel.  This — the  resurrection  of  the  dead 
— was  an  article  in  the  Pharisee's  confession  of  faith, 
whicli  Paul  had  not  denied ;  nay,  rather,  he  had  found  the 
kernel  of  the  nut  in  "  the  First-Fruits"  of  the  resurrection ; 
in  Him  Israel's  hope  had  become  alive.  The  chief  captain 
would  turn  with  a  contemptuous  smile  from  the  disorderly 


by  quotations  from  Luther,  in  his  comment  on  the  Acts.  I  certainly  think, 
with  the  learned  author,  that  the  Apostle  could  not  well  mistake  the  high 
priest;  but  I  take  his  "I  wist  not,"  to  mean  ''I  lost  sight  of," — "did  not 
bear  in  mind ; "  an  admission  certainly  implying  a  severe  reflection ;  for 
had  Ananias'  bearing  been  in  consonance  with  his  office,  Paul  could  not 
have  forgotten  himself,  i.e.,  lost  sight  of  his  being  the  high  priest.  A  com- 
parison with  other  passages  justifies  this  sense  of  the  Greek  word;  for 
instance,  Eph.  vi.  8,  and  Col.  iii.  24,  in  both  which  places,  the  English 
"knowing"  is  quite  tantamount  to  "  bearing  in  mind." — Tr. 


THE  PRISONER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  83 

uproar  in  the  holy  Sanhedrim,  and  fearing  for  his  prisoner, 
''lest  he  should  have  been  pnlled  in  pieces  of  them,"  he 
had  him.  brought  into  the  castle,  where,  lying  in  darkness, 
"the  Lord  stood  by"  His  troubled  and  comfort-needing 
servant,  saying  unto  him,  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  Paul :  for  as 
thou  hast  testified  of  me  in  Jerusalem,  so  must  thou  bear 
witness  also  at  Eome."  This,  "thou  must,"  he  caught 
hold  of  with  firm  faith,  and  yet  trod  the  wondrous  path 
traced  for  him  by  God,  so  soberly  and  circumspectly,  that 
he  did  not  think  his  young  nephew  too  mean  an  angel  to 
disappoint  those  forty  Jewish  zealots  who  conspired  against 
his  life.  He  evidently  had  won  upon  the  Eoman  captain 
by  his  manly  and  collected  bearing,  and  the  whole  charm 
of  his  character.  Yet,  without  some  palpable  official  cause, 
his  personal  favour  and  sympathy  for  the  prisoner  would 
hardly  have  induced  Claudius  Lysias  to  risk  his  popularity 
by  summoning  military  force  to  his  protection.  It  is, 
indeed,  an  edifying  spectacle  this  nightly  transport  from 
Jerusalem  to  Csesarea.  "Who  Thee  serves.  Thou  mighty 
Lord,  may  bid  defiance  to  the  world  !"  Now  Paul  is  in  the 
hands  of  governor  Felix,  a  profligate,  who,  as  Tacitus  has 
it,  under  the  guise  of  cruelty  concealed  a  servile  soul.  He 
was  to  feel  the  weight  of  this  singular  prisoner's  testimony, 
and  quail  beneath  it.    (Cf.  Acts  xxiii.) 

Against  the  accusations  of  the  Jews,  who  came  down  to 
Csesarea  with  a  hired  attorney,  the  "ringleader  of  the  sect 
of  the  Nazarenes,"  this  "pestilent  fellow," — as  TertuUus  is 
pleased  to  designate  him, — answers  with  singular  appro- 
priateness, and  with  the  fearlessness  of  which  he  writes, 
(Kom.  xiii.  3,)  "Wilt  thou  not  be  afraid  of  the  power  ?  do 
that  which  is  good."  Felix  was  not  unacquainted  with 
the  Christian  way,  though  his  own  was  the  broad  one. 
Therefore  the  Apostle  could  expect  him  to  understand,  that 
the  Christians  were  only  the  legitimate  Jews,  which  was  the 


84  ST  PAUL. 

drift  of  Paul's  defence  before  liim,  wlio  was  bound  by  his 
office  to  protect  that  nation  in  the  exercise  of  their  religion. 
With  all  the  composure  and  circumspection  which  the 
case  called  for,  he  omitted  not  to  make  a  thrust  into  this 
new  Pilate's  conscience,  by  lighting  on  it  with  the  testi- 
mony of  Israel's  hope,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  "  both 
of  the  just  and  unjust."  Unscrupulous  as  he  Avas,  yet 
Felix  so  far  conformed  to  the  duty  of  his  office,  that  he 
would  not  deliver  Paul  to  the  Jewish  court  of  justice, 
but  left  the  case  in  suspense,  meanwhile  extending  to  his 
prisoner  a  mild  treatment  in  Herod's  court-house.  To 
indulge  his  amorous  wife,  Drusilla,  "  which  was  a  Jewess," 
with  a  piquant  entertainment  on  the  subject  of  her  religion, 
he  had  Paul  summoned  into  their  presence.  But  Paul 
was  no  lover  of  soft  raiment.  Like  John  the  Baptist,  be- 
fore Herod  Antipas,  he  stood  before  Pelix,  and  reasoned 
with  him  and  his  Herod's  daughter,  "of  righteousness, 
temperance,  and  judgment  to  come."  Whereat  the  sensual 
worldling  "  trembled,"  and  stammered  out  a  civil  phrase,  to 
rid  himself  of  the  truth  by  dissembling  compliment.  By 
degrees,  however,  he  unlearned  this  trembling  before  the 
bound  preacher  of  the  unbound  word,  and  thinking,  after 
the  maxim  of  a  true  worldling,  that  even  this  Nazarene's 
uprightness  mi^t  have  its  price,  he  put  up  for  two  years 
with  his  reasonings  of  temperance,  in  the  hope  that 
"  money  ^  should  have  been  given  him  of  Paul,  that  he 
might  loose  him."  Thus,  then,  the  labourer  of  the  Lord 
kept  involuntary  holiday  for  two  years ;  yet  how  the  dew 
of  heaven  descended  on  him  in  his  lonely  cell,  we  perceive 
where  he  comes  forth  again  in  the  power  of  God's  strength. 
(Cf  Acts  xxiv.) 

Felix's  successor,  Porcius  Festus,  feels  personally  greatly 
inclined  ''to  do  the  Jews  a  pleasure,"  by  sacrificing  Paul 
to  their  bloodthirsty  plans,  but  he  must  protect  him.     His 


THE  PRISONER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  85 

accusers  now  proceed  to  bring  a  cliarge  of  liigh  treason 
against  him.  But  Paul,  not  unskilled  in  law  and  the 
rights  of  a  Eoman  citizen,  resists  Festus'  sinister  proposal 
to  send  him  up  for  trial  to  Jerusalem,  by  appealing  to 
Caesar;  hardly  thinking  at  the  time,  that  what  his  adver- 
saries now  forced  him  to,  would  become  the  very  means 
of  fulfilling  God's  word  to  him,  "  Thou  must  bear  witness 
also  at  Eome."  As  yet,  however,  he  had  not  done  with 
his  witness  before  the  unbelieving  Jews  in  Judsea.  Herod 
Agrippa,  the  son  of  James'  murderer,  came  down  to 
Caesarea  to  greet  the  new  governor ;  and  before  this  last 
king  of  his  nation — in  a  brilliant  assembly  of  polished 
courtiers,  the  heads,  no  doubt,  of  the  civil  and  military 
departments  at  Caesarea,  and  all  the  elite  of  that  city — 
Paul  was  to  close  the  series  of  his  apostolic  defences.  (Cf. 
Acts  XXV.) 

It  is  the  masterpiece  of  holy  eloquence  wherewith  the 
Apostle  meets  King  Agrippa.  By  his  Judaism  he  seizes 
this  Herod's  son,  and  forces  him  to  bear  witness  to  the 
unquestionable  fact,  that  conversion  to  the  Lord  Jesus  is 
no  falling  off  from  the  God  of  Israel,  but,  contrariwise,  the 
only  way  for  securing  the  hope  of  that  twelve-tribed  nation. 
After,  then,  simply  stating  the  ground  of  a  Christian's 
faith  and  hope,  by  narrating  his  own  conversion,  in  which 
here  he  gives  prominence  to  his  caU  as  Apostle  to  the 
Gentiles,  he  proceeds  to  say — "  Having,  therefore,  obtained 
help  of  God,  I  continue  unto  this  day,  witnessing  both  to 
small  and  great,  saying  none  other  things  than  those  which 
the  prophets  and  Moses  did  say  should  come :  that  Christ 
should  suffer,  and  that  He  should  be  the  first  that  should 
rise  from  the  dead,  and  should  shew  light  unto  the  people, 
and  to  the  Gentiles."  Here  he  was  interrupted  by  Festus 
calling  out  aloud,  "  Paul,  thou  art  beside  thyself;  much 
learning  doth  make  thee  mad."     The  Eoman  statesman 


86  ST  PAUL. 

felt  sometliing  strangely  supernatural  in  Paul's  speecli. 
This  prisoner  lauds  the  crucified  Jesus  as  the  "light  of  the 
Gentiles,"  and  Agrippa  listens  to  him  with  rapt  attention. 
That  would  never  do,  he  thought,  and  deemed  it  high 
time  to  interrupt  the  enthusiastic  speaker.  But  how  must 
the  reply  of  this  madman  fall  on  his  astonished  ear,  when, 
unoffended,  and  in  complete  self-possession — not  even 
omitting  his  ofiicial  title,  ''most  noble"  Festus — Paul 
assures  him  that  he  speaks  the  "  words  of  truth  and  sober- 
ness," and  appeals  to  "the  king"  that  these  were  not 
matters  of  fancy,  but  literal  realities;  not  hidden  things 
done  in  a  corner,  but  open  historical  facts.  Nor  had 
Paul  done  with  the  king  yet.  A  holy  fencer,  and  "not  as 
one  that  beateth  the  air,"  he  hits  him  in  the  most  vul- 
nerable place,  in  putting,  like  a  flaming  sword,  the  pointed 
question  to  him — "  King  Agrippa,  believest  thou  the  pro- 
phets?" Embarassing  pause!  "I  know  that  thou  be- 
lievest," says  Paul  the  prophet;  and  thus  sinks  the  sword 
of  the  Spirit  into  the  heart  of  a  man  unable  to  resist  the 
conviction,  that  what  the  prophets  have  spoken  must  come 
to  pass.  But  one  step  more,  and  he  had  believed  that  it 
had  come  to  pass  in  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  But  this  step 
Bernice's  incestuous  brother  was  unwilling  to  take,  and 
forcing  out  an  easy  joke,  he  replied,  "Almost  thou  per- 
suadest  me  to  be  a  Cliristian."  But  the  skilled  soldier  of 
Christ  knew  immediately  how  to  turn  to  account  the 
beaten  king's  high-spoken  word,  by  rejoining,  in  deep 
earnest,  "  I  would  to  God  that  not  only  thou,  but  also  all 
that  hear  me  this  day,  were  both  almost  and  altogether 
such  as  I  am,  except  these  bonds."  These,  surely,  are  not 
the  words  of  a  mad  enthusiast.  His  Christian  joy  Paul 
would  have  all  men  to  be  partakers  of;  nor  did  he  doubt 
the  Lord's  power,  who  had  overcome  him,  to  overcome  the 
mightiest,  and  take  the  great  for  a  spoil,  while  his  Christian 


THE  PEISONER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  87 

cross  he  would  bear,  "  as  of  tlie  ability  which  God  giveth," 
without  wishing  it  upon  any  other's  shoulders.  The  smile 
had  died  on  the  king's  lips,  and  with  hurried  despatch  he 
drew  to  a  close  the  business  which  had  taken  so  unex- 
pected a  turn.  He  could  not  help  admitting,  that  the 
religion  of  Jesus  was  unforbidden  in  the  Jewish  land. 
And  it  is  singular  enougli  that,  after  all,  the  governor 
should  be  compelled  to  what  seemed  to  him  so  unreason- 
able a  thing,  the  sending  a  prisoner  up  to  Eome,  "  and  not 
withal  signifying  the  crimes  laid  against  him."  (Cf.  Acts 
xxvi.) 

The  history  of  his  voyage  to  Italy  turns  up  a  new  leaf 
in  Paul's  life,  which  we  shall  find  no  less  edifying  to  glance 
over.  His  serene  composure,  and  yet  quick  perception, 
wherewith  he  knew  how  to  master  every  situation,  we 
liave  indeed  had  repeated  occasion  already  to  behold  and 
admire.  But  here  we  meet  a  mutinous  crew  tamed  and 
led  by  our  captive  Jew,  who  bears  a  hand  himself  in  the 
ship  as  smartly  as  if  he  had  been  a  born  seaman.  Our 
first  look  is  fixed  properly  upon  the  hand  of  the  Lord,  who 
gives  as  a  prize  to  His  servant  those  very  men  that  carried 
him  captive  to  Eome;  but  it  affords  St  Luke  an  evident 
pleasu.re  to  paint  in  its  minutest  details  the  conduct  of  his 
beloved  Paul,  through  whom,  as  his  instrument,  the  Lord 
brings  about  what  He  pleases  to  the  joy  of  His  Church. 
The  Adramyttian  ship  from  the  harbour  of  Csesarea,  and 
the  Alexandrian  which  sailed  from  Myra,  bare  the  precious 
freight,  which  was  at  length  to  still  the  longings  of  the 
distant  "isles,"  (Isa.  xlii.  4,  li.  5,  Ix.  9.)  Satan  would 
fain  have  made  the  deep,  that  calls  him  lord,  to  become 
the  grave  of  his  stout  adversary.  But  to  "  perils  in  the 
sea  "  the  Apostle  was  not  unused,  for  thrice  he  liad  suffered 
shipwreck,  a  night  and  a  day  he  had  been  in  the  deep, 
(2  Cor.  xi.  25.)      Nowise  doubting  the  Lord's  safe  guid- 


88  ST  PAUL. 

ance,  who  had  ensured  his  life  by  His  own  words,  yet  Paul 
knew  that  he  was  not  on  board  as  dead  cargo,  but  as  a 
living  Christian  man;  and  no  sooner  did  the  approaching 
tempest  threaten  to  endanger  their  passage  in  the  Medi- 
terranean, than  he  stepped  forward  with  his  counsel,  advis- 
ing them  to  run  in  and  winter  at  Crete,  in  a  harbour  called 
**  The  Fair  Havens."  "  Nevertheless  the  centurion  "  of  the 
imperial  life-guards  at  Csesarea,  who  had  charge  of  Paul, 
friendly  as  he  was  to  him,  "believed  the  master  and  the 
owner  of  the  ship,"  more  than  the  "  missionary."  How- 
ever, it  went  so  badly  with  their  discipline  on  board,  that 
neither  master  nor  owner,  who  both  wished  to  hasten  with 
corn  to  the  Italian  market,  could  gain  their  point,  for  "the 
more  part"  preferred  to  run  into  another  harbour  of  Crete, 
which  offered  them  a  more  agreeable  sojourn  for  wintering. 
This  was  confusion  worse  confounded.  Meanwhile,  the 
wind  called  "Euroclydon"  really  arose,  and  no  skill  of  the 
most  skilful  could  now  do  aught  with  the  ship;  so  they 
•"let  her  drive."  Then  Paul  turned  sailor,  with  both  Luke 
and  Aristarchus  his  companions,  and  won  favour  with  the 
crew  by  "  bearing  a  hand"  in  getting  up  the  boat,  under- 
girding  the  ship,  and  lightening  her  by  heaving  her  gear 
overboard.  Still  all  was  in  vain.  Three  sunless  days  and 
still  worse  starless  nights  they  were  driven  to  and  fro  upon 
the  tempest-tossed  waves;  and  "all  hope  that  we  should 
be  saved  was  then  taken  away,"  writes  Luke.  But  then 
was  shewn  what,  under  God,  one  man's  word  can  accomplish. 
Amid  the  despairing  crowd,  staring  into  their  watery  grave, 
which  is  yawning  before  them,  Paul  steps  forth,  and  having 
reproved  their  wanton  rejection  of  his  counsel,  he  says, 
"  And  now,  I  exhort  you  to  be  of  good  cheer,  for  there 
shall  be  no  loss  of  any  man's  life  among  you,  but  of  the 
ship."  What!  is  Paul  going  to  bear  them  all  upon  his 
back,  and  swim  with  them  to  the  unseen  land  ?     No,  but 


THE  PRISONER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  89 

upon  his  heart  he  has  borne  them.  "  For  there  stood  by 
me,"  he  continues,  "  this  night  the  angel  of  God,  whose  I 
am,  and  whom  I  serve,  saying,  Fear  not,  Paul :  thou  must 
be  brought  before  Cciesar ;  and  lo,  God  hath  given  thee  all 
them  that  sail  with  thee."  He  that  can  thus  depict  and 
magnify  the  Lord's  goodness  will  also  draw  Gentile  hearts, 
and  find  open  ears,  when  he  preaches  Him  to  them.  Paul 
has  turned  "  naval  chaplain,"  and  the  crew  have  heard  a 
life-sermon.  The  whole  had  to  acknowledge  themselves 
his  prize,  not  even  Julius  the  centurion  excepted.  "Where- 
fore, sirs,"  he  joyfully  continues,  "be  of  good  cheer:  for  I 
believe  God,  that  it  shall  be  even  as  He  hath  told  me." 
This  is  his  sheet-anchor — faith,  the  rope  which  he  throws 
to  the  hopeless,  that  they  may  cling  to  it  and  be  safe. 
But  one  demand  he  has  to  make  along  with  it.  They  must 
relinquish  all  thoughts  of  saving  the  ship,  and  with  their 
bare  lives  must  be  stranded  on  an  island.  Will  they  do 
it?  Are  they  going  into  the  "life-boat"  of  Paul's  word, 
and  abandon  the  planks  they  are  still  treading?  I^ot 
immediately..  They  sound  first,  and  find  it  twenty  fathoms, 
and  next  fifteen.  Then  fearing  lest  they  should  run  upon 
rocks,  they  cast  four  anchors  astern,  and  wish  for  the  day. 
Now  the  crew,  under  colour  of  casting  anchors  out  of  the 
foreship  also,  stealthily  let  the  boat  down  into  the  sea,  in 
order  to  make  their  escape  in  it  at  break  of  day.  But 
Paul,  amid  the  night's  confusion,  perceived  their  design, 
and  called  out  to  the  centurion  and  soldiers,  "  Except  these 
abide  in  the  ship,  ye  cannot  be  saved."  How  differently 
would  the  mythic  muse  equip  and  deck  out  her  hero! 
Paul  looks  upon  the  prize  God  hath  given  him,  not  as 
machines,  but  men,  who,  with  meek  submission,  have  to 
enter  into  God's  will  for  their  salvation,  and  to  bestir  them- 
selves in  that  way  which  it  shall  please  God  to  point  out 
for  their  rescue.     Look,  with  what  elastic  buoyancy,  and 


90  ST  PAUL. 

yet  iron  firmness,  this  hero  of  faith  pnts  his  whole  man  in 
motion;  his  every  sense  and  reason  he  places  as  means  at 
God's  disposal,  to  work  His  will.  With  all  his  perfect 
self-surrender  to  God,  he  never  loses  self-possession;  with 
all  his  depth  of  tender  feeling,  there  is  no  sentimentality; 
with  all  the  deep  rest  of  a  broken  heart,  there  is  no  con- 
fused mysticism;  with  all  his  affections  set  on  the  things 
above — having  "  tasted  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come" 
—there  is  no  want  of  sense  for  this  life,  nor  any  monkish 
depreciation  of  it;  with  all  the  implicit  obedience  of  the 
bondman  of  Christ,  he  yet  possesses  the  firmest  energy  of 
Avill  and  thorough  manliness.  For  a  long  time  I  could  not 
understand  why  Luke  should  have  sketched  the  history  of 
this  voyage  with  so  lingering  a  pencil.  In  my  comment 
on  this  chapter,  I  have  mainly  endeavoured  to  shew  what 
position  Paul's  voyage  to  Italy  occupies  in  the  holy  drama 
of  ''  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  or  rather  the  history  of  the 
deeds,  through  them,  of  the  risen  and  exalted  Saviour  in 
His  primitive  church."  But  in  the  epos  also  of  Paul's  life, 
in  the  picture  of  his  character,  the  history  of  this  voyage 
shines  forth  in  the  lustre  of  pruneval  freshness.  Can  we 
still  wonder  that  Paul  has  won  the  Eoman  Julius'  heart  ? 
Upon  his  word  he  orders  his  soldiers  to  ''  cut  off  the  ropes 
of  the  boat,  and  let  her  fall  off."  That  was  strong  faith, 
strengthened  by  Paul's  own.  Now  every  bridge  of  human 
help  is  cut  off,  and  the  "  life-boat "  of  Paul's  word  held 
firm  by  the  safety-rope  of  the  Almighty's  faithfulness — 
their  only  refuge.  As  daylight  came  on,  Paul  yet  once 
more  stepped  forth  among  the  crew,  who  looked  despond- 
ing after  a  fortnight's  fast,  and  winningly  beseeching  them 
to  take  courage,  and  "to  take  meat  for  their  health,"  he 
adds,  ''  for  there  shall  not  an  hair  faU  from  the  head  of  any 
of  you."  And  lo,  they  hearken  to  his  voice  amid  the 
roaring  sea,  whose  every  surging  biUow  threatens  to  snap 


THE  PRISONER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  91 

the  fragile  cables,  and  dash  the  vessel  to  pieces  on  the 
rocks.  *' And  when  he  had  thus  spoken,  he  took  bread, 
and  gave  thanks  to  God  in  presence  of  them  all ;  and  when 
he  had  broken  it,  he  began  to  eat."  In  truth  an  heroic 
meal !  and  his  fervent  ''grace"  in  breaking  the  bread,  won 
upon  all  the  two  hundred  and  seventy-six  souls,  whom 
God  had  given  him :  ''Then  were  they  all  of  good  cheer; 
and  they  also  took  some  meat."  "And  when  they  had 
eaten  enough,  they  forthwith  cast  the  wheat  into  the  sea," 
took  up  the  anchors,  loosed  the  rudder-bands,  hoised  the 
mainsail  to  the  wind,  and  made  toward  the  shore  of  an 
unknown  isle.  Driven  betwixt  two  seas  wdiich  met,  they 
soon  ran  aground  with  such  force,  that  "the  forepart  of 
the  ship  stuck  fast,  and  remained  unmoveable,  but  the 
hinder  part  w^as  broken  with  the  violence  of  the  waves." 
Seeing  some  bent  on  their  escape  by  jumping  overboard, 
"the  soldiers'  counsel  was  to  kill  the  prisoners."  Their 
duty,  truly  Eoman  !  stood  above  their  gratitude.  But  the 
centurion,  "  willing  to  save  Paul," — to  the  very  last  it  is  the 
arm  of  a  man,  directed  by  God,  that  shields  the  Apostle's 
life — "kept  them  from  their  purpose ; "  and  upon  his  military 
command,  "those  that  could  swim"  had  to  "cast  them- 
selves first  into  the  sea,"  and  get  to  land,  in  order  to  draw 
those  ashore  that  drifted  after,  on  boards  and  broken  pieces 
of  the  ship.  "And  so,"  by  straining  every  human  nerve  to 
the  last,  "it  came  to  pass,  that  they  escaped  all  safe  to 
land."  Thus  the  Almighty  humbly  hid  His  wondrous 
help  under  cover  of  the  human;  and  Paul  has  compre- 
hended God's  manner,  which  is  not  that  of  pointing  a 
pistol  to  a  man's  breast,  with  a  peremptory,  "  Believe,  or 
die  !"     (Of.  Acts  xxvii.) 

It  was  only  after  they  had  reached  the  island  in  safety 
— which  proved  to  be  Malta — that  the  shipwrecked  party 
came  to  know  their  deliverer,  as  one  of  those  who  should 


92  ST  PAUL. 

have  ''power  to  tread  on  serpents  and  scorpions."  Him 
who  had  shared  all  the  hardships  and  necessities  of  the 
ship — who  had  j)roved  himself  a  naval  hero,  rather  than  a 
churchman — they  now  saw  how  he  laid  hands  on  the  sick 
of  the  island,  from  the  house  of  Publius  the  chief,  to  all 
around  that  came  unto  him,  and  they  were  healed.  After  a 
three  months'  stay,  they  departed  again,  highly  honoured,  for 
Paul's  sake,  and  richly  furnished  with  provisions  by  the 
hospitable  islanders.  Under  the  heathen  sign  of  "  Castor 
and  Pollux,"  the  destroyer  of  heathenism — after  spending 
three  days  at  Syracuse — they  safely  reached  the  harbour 
of  Puteoli,  where,  to  their  joy,  they  found  "brethren,"  at 
whose  desire  Paul — such  was  now  the  centurion's  indul- 
gence of  his  prisoner — was  allowed  to  tarry  seven  days 
mth  them,  and  thereupon  went  on  to  Eome;  whence 
brethren  met  him,  as  far  as  Appii  Porum,  and  the  Three 
Taverns;  "whom  when  Paul  saw,  he  thanked  God,  and 
took  courage."  The  sorrow  for  Jerusalem  and  Zion's 
people,  which  his  heart  had  felt  doubly  on  the  voyage  that 
conveyed  liim  from  them,  had  made  him  no  way  incapable 
of  acting  as  we  have  seen  him  do.  Who  of  the  ship's 
company  w^ould  have  thought  that  this  heroic  prisoner 
was  all  the  while,  internally,  bowed  down  under  mental 
sufferings  ?  Yet  Luke,  not  only  his  "  beloved  physician," 
(Col.  iv.  14,)  but  also  his  trusty  brother,  discovers  to  us, 
that  it  was  only  upon  the  grateful  and  encouraging  sight 
of  the  Eoman  brethren,  (Ptom.  xv.  23,  24,)  that  the  Apostle's 
mournful  sorrow  was  changed  into  joyful  thanksgiving. 
Their  fall  is  the  riches  of  the  world,  (Ptom.  xi.  12  ;)  this  he 
now  saw  with  his  eyes  and  took  courage — ^to  go  on  with 
the  graftmg  in  of  "  the  wild  olive-tree  "  among  the  broken 
off  "natural  branches,"  in  order  that  "the  good  olive-tree  " 
might  bud  again  and  flourish  in  many  Gentile  branches; 
while  those  "broken  off  in  unbelief"  he  commended  to  the 


THE  PRISONER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  93 

goodness  of  God,  "  who  is  able  to  graff  tliem  in  again." 
A  prisoner,  and  yet  triumphant,  Paul  enters  Eonie.  (Cf. 
Acts  xxviii.  1-15.) 

Julius  the  centurion's  favourable  report  to  the  captain 
of  the  imperial  guard,  procured  Paul  the  liberty  of  staying 
where  he  pleased,  with  only  a  soldier  for  his  guard.  With 
unshaken  fidelity  to  his  nation,  and  with  inexhaustible 
patience,  also  here  at  Eome,  he  addressed  himself  first  to 
his  own  brethren  after  tlie  flesh,  and  sought  to  gain  their 
confidence.  Compelled  to  claim  Csesar's  protection  from  his 
Jewish  persecutors,  yet  would  he  have  naught  to  accuse 
his  nation  of,  rather  declaring,  "  For  the  hope  of  Israel  I 
am  bound  with  this  chain."  But,  alas !  he  found  the  Jews 
the  same  at  Eome  as  everywhere  else,  and  with  Isaiah's 
woe  he  is  forced  to  take  leave  of  them.  Having  tried  in 
vain,  ''from  morning  till  evening,"  to  ''persuade  them 
concerning  Jesus,  both  out  of  the  law  of  Moses,  and  out  of 
the  prophets,"  he  has  recourse  again  to  what  is  everywhere 
his  last  resource  with  them,  i.e.,  provoking  them  to  jealousy 
by  the  salvation  of  the  Gentiles ;  and  concludes,  "Be  it 
known,  therefore,  unto  you,  that  the  salvation  of  God  is 
sent  unto  the  Gentiles,  and  that  they  will  hear  it."  And 
they  have  heard  it.  Two  whole  years  Paul  dwelt  at  Eome 
in  his  own  hired  house,  and  received  all  that  came  in  unto 
him ;  preaching  in  this  capital  of  the  world  the  kingdom 
of  God — in  the  residence  of  Caesar  whom  the  world  called 
"Lord,"  (Acts  xxv.  26,)  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  in- 
wardly with  all  confidence,  outwardly  without  restraint ; 
an  ambassador  of  Christ,  wearing  the  chain,  not  indeed  of 
an  imperial  order,  but  of  an  imperial  prisoner — in  token  of 
the  suffering  state  of  Christ's  Church.  But  the  Word  of 
God  was  not  bound ;  that  sufficed  him.  (Cf.  Acts  xxviii. 
16-31.) 

That,  upon   the  expiration  of  these  two  years,  Paul's 


94  ST  PAUL. 

long-pending  trial  does  not  yet  terminate  in  his  execution, 
some  slight  hints  in  the  Acts,  and  more  in  his  Epistles, 
seem  to  indicate.  The  ancient  Church,  too — already,  it 
should  seem,  Clemens  Eomanus,  his  own  disciple — almost 
uniformly  thought,  that  the  Apostle  was  permitted  to  ac- 
complish his  purposed  journey  into  Spain,  (Eom.  xv.  24;) 
and  of  a  return  to  the  East  his  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy 
shews  evident  traces.  (Cf.  2  Tim.  iv.  13,20,  passages  which  can 
hardly  suit  Paul's  first  journey  from  Corinth,  via  Jerusalem, 
to  Kome.)  Whence  this  epistle — the  Apostle's  last  legacy  to 
the  Church — must  have  been,  and,  in  fact,  was  written 
during  a  second  imprisonment  of  Paul  at  Eome,  and  in 
view  of  his  near  martyrdom,  (2  Tim.  iv.  6-8,)  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  unanimous  testimony  of  the  ancients,  he  suffered 
by  the  sword  under  Nero.  But  for  a  sketch  of  him  after 
the  Word  of  God,  Luke  has  set  us  the  limits.  One  glance, 
however,  we  must  still  cast  upon  the  letters  which  the 
Apostle  wrote  during  his  two  years'  detention  at  Eome. 
They  are  effusions  of  holy  joy  from  the  prisoner  of  the 
Lord.  That  to  the  Ephesians,  a  circular  epistle  to  the 
churches  in  and  about  Ephesus,  is  a  ''song  of  degrees," 
set  for  the  Church  of  Christ.  In  it  he  contemplates  with 
holy  ecstasy  God's  marvel-building  reared  of  living  souls, 
and  growing  together  unto  an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord,  as 
the  historical  realisation  of  "  the  mystery  of  Christ."  Hand 
in  hand  with  this  goes  that  to  the  Colossians,  which 
breathes  all  the  heavenly  joy  of  a  cross-honoured  confessor. 
With  prominent  lustre  shines  in  it  the  word  of  Christ,  as 
the  all-sufficient  treasure  of  His  Church.  Most  earnestly 
does  the  Apostle  exhort  "  the  saints  and  faithful  brethren 
in  Christ,"  in  firm  faith  and  pure  doctrine  to  "  hold  the 
Head,  and  to  cling  unwaveringly  to  Him,  in  whom  dwell- 
eth  all  the  fulness  of  the  Godhead  bodily,"  bewaring  of  all 
deceit  and  beguiling  of  their  reward  by  any  dreamy,  self- 


THE  PEISONER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  95 

chosen,  or  affected  spirituality.  In  liis  Philippian  epistle, 
Paul's  heart  leaps  for  joy,  and  cannot  be  sad :  a  dozen 
times  and  more  the  words  ''joy"  and  "rejoice"  occur  in  it. 
The  Philippian  Church — this  pearl  of  his  first-love  (remem- 
ber Acts  xvi.) — remained  his  jewel  through  life.  He 
cheerfully  accepted  their  "  ministering  unto  his  necessities," 
and  they  were  also  privileged  to  "  communicate  with  his 
affliction"  even  at  Eome.  "To  abide  in  the  flesh,"  and 
continue  with  them  for  their  ''furtherance  and  joy  of 
faith,"  struggled  in  him  with  the  desire  "  to  depart  and  be 
with  Christ,"  the  sole  gain  of  his  life,  and  the  fountain  of 
all  his  joy,  whereout  to  drink  righteousness  and  peace 
l)ecame  daily  more  precious  to  his  soul.  With  "great  joy" 
also  he  writes  to  Philemon.  All  the  grace  and  loveliness 
of  a  manly  soul  breathes  its  rich  perfume  through  this 
little  letter  of  "  Paul  the  aged,"  who  in  his  bonds  plays 
merrily  on  words,  beseeching  Philemon  to  place  to  his 
account,  as  partner,  aught  Onesimus,  once  servant,  now 
a  brother,  might  be  indebted  to  their  joint- firm  of  love. 
Finally  the  "  Hebrews"  saluted  by  the  "  Gentile  "  churches. 
("They  of  Italy  salute  you,"  Heb.  xiii.  24.)  For  though 
we  can  hardly  aUow  Paul  himself  to  be  the  author  of  this 
epistle,  (chap.  ii.  3 ;) — the  word  of  salvation  "  was  confirmed 
unto  us  by  them  that  heard  him,"  already  forbids  this ; — 
yet  that  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  He  was  in  Paul,  inspired  it,  is 
sure  enough,  and  that  Luke  is  the  author  commissioned 
and  counselled  by  the  Apostle,  w^e  may  deem  very  pro- 
bable.*    As  the  Apostle  saw  the  day  of  ''judgment  and 

*  In  this  view  I  cannot  concur.  Taking  the  Apostle  to  speak  in  the 
name  of  the  Hebrews,  as  undoubtedly  he  does  in  Heb.  ii.  3,  (cf.  v.  1,) 
every  difficulty  (which  the  author  feels)  of  reconciling  this  passage  Avith 
Gal.  i.  12,  falls  of  course  to  the  ground;  and  by  "them  that  heard  him" 
are  evidently  meant  their  late  teachers,  principally  James,  the  Lord's 
brother,  who  had  "  spoken  unto  them  the  word  of  God,"  (Heb.  xiii.  7.) 
But  we  certainly  have  the  strongest  correlative  evidence  for  Paul,  and 


96  ST  PAUL. 

fiery  indignation"  impend  over  Jerusalem,  (Heb.  x.  25-27,) 
his  affectionate  heart  was  stirred  by  love  to  his  never  for- 
gotten Hebrew  brethren,  to  strengthen  their  shaken  confi- 
dence by  his  testifying — but  no,  perhaps  they  would  rather 
hear  it  from  another  than  himself — by  one  of  his  fellow- 
helpers  testifying  to  them  of  the  immovable  kingdom, 
and  its  imperishable  blessings,  as  theirs  by  inheritance; 
and  by  magnifying  to  them  the  great  High  Priest  of  the 
heavenly  sanctuary,  before  whose  glory  the  splendour  of 
Zion's  superannuated  tabernacle  fades. 

Through  the  whole  way,  in  Avhich  we  have  followed  the 
track  of  Paul's  feet,  we  have  seen  fulfilled  to  himself  the 
prayer  he  offers  up  with  bended  knees  for  the  Ephesians, 
that  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  would  grant  them, 
according  to  the  riches  of  His  glory,  to  be  strengthened 
with  might  by  His  Spirit  in  the  inner  man,  (Eph.  iii.  16.) 
In  acting,  in  speaking  and  writing,  in  suffering  and  in 
silent  rest,  all  is  of  one  cast  throughout — he  is  as  much 
"every  inch  a  Christian,"  as  he  is  "every  inch  a  man;" 
the  crown  of  his  heroic  character  being  the  offering  up  of 
himself  to  ''please  Him  who  hath  chosen  him  to  be  a 
soldier,"  (2  Tim.  ii.  4.)  "  Christ  is  aU  and  in  all,"  (Col.  iii.  11,) 
was  his  symbolum.  To  live  unto  Christ  in  all  things 
was  his  glory,  and  to  "  present  every  man  perfect  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  the  aim  of  all  his  life.  Does  the  greatness  of  this 
man  oppress  thee,  instead  of  elevating  thee  ?  Behold,  ''  by 
the  grace  of  God  I  am  what  I  am;"  and  in  exhorting  his 
beloved  Philippians,  ''Brethren,  be  followers  together  of 
me,  and  mark  them  which  walk  so  as  ye  have  us  for  an 
ensamx^le,"  (Phil.  iii.  17;)  he  expects  nothing  of  his  brethren 
that  is  beyond  the  power  of  the  riches  of  God's  grace 

none  other,  being  the  author,  in  the  two  passages,  Heb.  x.  34,  and  xiii. 
18,  19.  They  are,  in  fact,  hardly  short  of  conclusive  proof,  on  which  his 
authorship  may  securely  rest. — Tr. 


THE  PRISONER  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  97 

working  in  them  both  to  will  and  to  do,  (Phil.  ii.  13.)  It 
shall  be  done,  if  we  will  but  tread  in  the  blessed  footsteps 
of  Paul's  faith. 

"  Wouldst  thou  inherit  life  with  Christ  on  high  ? 
Then  count  the  cost,  and  know, 
That  here  on  earth  below 
Thou  needs  must  suffer  with  the  Lord  and  die. 
We  reach  the  gain,  to  which  all  else  is  loss 
But  through  the  Cross." 


r 


VII. 
THE  MAN  OF  FAITH. 

"  We  having  the  same  spirit  of  faith,  according  as  it  is  written,  T  believed, 
and  therefore  hare  I  spoken ;  we  also  believe,  and  therefore  speak." 
—2  CoK.  iv.  13. 

A  MAN  Paul  was,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word.  To  what 
glory  (2  Cor.  iii.  18)  fallen  man,  created  after  God's  image, 
may  be  renewed,  is  seen  in  Paul,  as  hardly  in  any  other. 
Is  spiritual  life  ruled  by  the  holy  triumvirate  of  these  three, 
— faith,  hope,  charity?  (1  Cor.  xiii.  13.)  Then  Paul  became 
the  man  he  was  by  the  harmonious  reign  in  him  of  these 
three  fundamental  graces.  An  enemy  to  all  half-hearted- 
ness,  ever  thoroughly  decided  for  what  attracted  his  soul, 
he  apprehended  Jesus  hj  faith  the  moment  he  was  appre- 
hended of  Him  by  grace,  and  at  once  renounced  all  he  had 
counted  gain  after  the  flesh  without  Christ ;  and  then,  in 
pressing  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of  his  high  calling, 
he  forgets  all  that  is  behind,  reaching  forth  in  living  hope 
unto  those  things  which  are  before,  and  has  already  his 
''  conversation  in  heaven,  from  whence  also  we  look  for  the 
Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ; "  and  unto  Him  he  lived 
with  that  devoted  love,  wherein  the  Christian's  future 
heavenly  likeness  of  Christ  has  its  present  beginning  on 
earth  ;  and  he  was  a  man  also  in  love,  heroically  sacrificing 
himself  for  the  good  of  his  brethren. — Faith,  hope,  love, 
these  three,  in  their  threefold  oneness,  stood  continually 
before  the  eyes  of  his  mind,  (Eph.  i.  15,  18  ;  Phil.  i.  9,  &c. ; 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  99 

Col.  i.  4,  23 ;  1  Tliess.  i.  3,  v.  8 ;  2  Thess.  i.  3 ;  Tit.  i.  1, 
&c.;  Heb.  vi.  10,  &c.,  x.  22-24)  But  to  see  the  cliarm  of 
them  in  their  combined  loveliness,  read  the  whole  of  his 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians. 

We  may  doubtless  reckon  upon  universal  consent  in 
designating  Paul  as  "  the  man  of  faith."  But  against  the 
merit  some  attach  to  him,  when  they  extol  his  faith,  Paul, 
"the  servant  of  Jesus  Christ,"  protests  with  all  his  might. 
They  vainly  imagine  a  Paul  that  will  patronise  their  "  lib- 
erty of  conscience,"  and  the  acting  "  in  good  faith  "  accord- 
ing to  their  conviction ;  and  they  absolutely  will  not  see 
that  as  regards  the  much-loved  liberty,  according  to  which 
every  one  is  to  be  saved  ''  after  his  own  fashion,"  it  haply 
might  be  sought  with  heathen  Gallio,  but  is  utterly  rejected 
by  the  minister  and  confessor  of  Jesus  Christ.  He  only 
prizes — but  that  highly — man's  liberation  from  the  bond- 
age of  sin  unto  "  obedience  to  the  faith,"  (Acts  vi.  7 ;  Pom. 
i.  5,  xvi.  26  ;)  and  this  obedience  to  the  faith  he  prizes  not 
as  a  human  virtue,  but  as  the  result  of  the  gracious  power  of 
God  through  '/  the  gospel  of  Christ,"  (Eom.  i.  16.)  Faith,  in 
Paul's  sense  of  it,  is  the  Christ-betrothed  soul's  wedding- 
ring,  the  preciousness  of  which  lies  not  in  the  holding  of 
it,  but  in  Him  that  is  held  by  it — viz.,  in  Jesus  Christ. 
''But  we  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,"  not  in 
mortal  only,  but  also  sinful,  bodies,  in  which  flesh  and 
spirit  are  at  continual  war,  "that  the  excellency  of  the 
power  may  be  of  God,  and  not  of  us,"  (2  Cor.  iv.  7.)  If 
ever  a  Christian  man  could  have  been  tempted  to  rejoice  in 
his  devotion  to  Christ,  as  an  heroic  deed,  which  might  avail 
aught  before  God,  and  deserve  His  praise,  it  must  have  been 
Paul ;  but  he  allowed  the  truth  of  this  word  to  illumine  his 
path.  The  promise  therefore  is  of  faith,  that  it  might  be 
by  grace ;  to  the  end  it  might  be  sure,  (Eom.  iv.  16.)  To 
be  saved  of  God  by  grace,  not  on  account  of  faith,  but 


100  ST  PAUL. 

througli  faith,  for  Christ's  sake,  is  his  unvaried  creed.  We 
admire  the  heroic  strength  of  his  faith,  after  the  manner  of 
Abraham's,  (Eom.  iv.  18,  &c.,)  but  nowise  find  in  it  any 
meritorious  cause  of  his  salvation.  Otherwise  it  had  been 
the  man  Paul  who  saved  himself  by  virtue  of  his  faith. 
Let  it  rather  rest  thus :  Paul's  manliness  in  faith  shews 
itseK  in  his  energetic  passiveness  to  the  active  grace  of 
God  in  Christ — operating  upon  and  in  him.  So  then,  "  all 
praise  is  ever  God's,  while  ours  is  the  joy." 

We  now  resume  the  thread  at  the  great  turning-point  of 
Paul's  life,  where,  in  his  conversion  by  the  heavenly  call, 
which  made  him  the  won  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  we  beheld  the 
first  unfolding  of  the  productive  seed  of  Divine  grace, — an 
unfolding  which  stands  complete  before  us  in  the  Apostle's 
evangelical  preaching.  That  Paul  so  preached  and  wrote, 
as  needs  he  must,  to  make  his  word  apostolic,  the  norm  and 
rule  of  Christian  doctrine, — thereunto  he  was  inspired  by 
the  Spirit  of  God ;  and  he  was  in  solemn  earnest,  when  he 
said,  "  Which  things  also  we  speak,  not  in  the  words  which 
man's  wisdom  teacheth,  but  which  the  Holy  Ghost  teach- 
eth,"  (1  Cor.  ii.  13.)  Yet  did  he  not  speak  like  a  tinkling 
cymbal  giving  forth  the  sound  made  on  it  by  another,  but 
like  a  living  Christian,  whose  whole  man — body,  soul,  and 
spirit — is  constantly  under  the  operation  of  Divine  grace 
by  the  Spirit  of  faith.  And  thus,  without  prejudice  to  the 
doctrine  of  Inspiration,  we  abide  by  this,  that  the  Gospel 
Paul  preaches  is  the  testimony  of  his  own  experience.  He 
has  seen  the  crucified  and  risen  Jesus,  and  He  has  been  re- 
vealed to  him  as  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God.  In  Him, 
through  faith  in  His  name,  he  has  received — by  the  mouth 
of  Ananias,  and  under  his  baptizing  hand — the  forgiveness 
of  his  sins,  salvation,  and  life.  Jesus  Christ,  therefore,  is 
the  sum  and  substance  both  of  his  own  faith  and  of  the 
faith  which  he  preaches.     Nothmg  he  determined  to  know 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  101 

save  Jesus  Christ  and  Him  crucified,  (1  Cor.  ii.  2,)  true  to 
the  maxim  :  "  Preach  one  thing,  and  one  thing  only — the 
wisdom  of  the  Cross ! '''  When,  therefore,  he  desires  to 
sum  up  shortly  and  well  the  faith  he  preaches,  he  does  it 
in  this  manner :  "  If  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy  mouth 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  shalt  believe  in  thine  heart  that  God 
hath  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved," 
(Eom.  X.  9.) 

The  first  knowledge  Paul  gained  from  this  wisdom  of  the 
cross  was,  that  he  felt  himself  a  lost  and  condemned 
sinner,  who  in  no  other  way  can  possibly  be  saved  than 
simply  in  that  of  faith  in  Christ.  For  in  the  light  that 
issues  from  the  Cross, — that  is,  from  Him  that  hangs 
upon  it,  who  is  both  David's  Son  and  Son  of  God, — 
he  beholds  the  enmity  slain,  even  the  law  of  command- 
ments, and  peace  made  through  the  blood  of  His  cross, 
(Eph.  ii.  14-16  ;  Col.  i.  20.)  The  bitterest  enmity  of  the 
carnal  mind  against  God,  (Eom.  viii.  7,)  centred  in  that 
of  the  Jews  against  His  Christ.  ''  When  Jesus  therefore 
had  taken  the  vinegar.  He  said.  It  is  finished,"  (John 
xix.  31.)  The  sin  of  His  people,  the  sin  of  mankind  here 
exhausted  itself  upon  Him.  He  clean  drank  it  out  of  the 
sponge  of  vinegar  by  His  saving  thirst ;  and  God's  wrath 
against  sinners,  by  reason  of  His  holiness,  is  clean  done 
away,  and  peace  made,  through  the  reconciling  blood  of 
Jesus  Christ,  (Eom.  v.  9,  10 ;  Col.  i.  20-22 ;)  who  has  felt 
and  borne  to  the  utmost,  even  to  the  bitter  point  of  being 
forsaken  of  God,  the  curse  of  God's  wrath  upon  sin ;  thus 
doing  away — for  all  that  believe  in  Him — the  punishment 
of  sin  by  bearing  it  Himself.  This  is  God's  atoning  mercy 
through  Christ,  Paul's  glory  of  faith  in  Christ,  (Eom.  v.  11  ; 
2  Cor.  V.  19-21.)  Because  he  had  been  chief  among  the  per- 
secutors of  Jesus,  filling  the  vinegared  sponge  with  the  bit- 
terness of  his  enmity,  therefore  he  counted  himself  the  chief 


102  ST  PAUL. 

of  sinners  ;  but  therefore  also  lie  adored  the  exceeding  love 
of  God  in  Christ,  with  the  overpowering  thankfulness  of  a 
child  of  grace  :  "  But  God,  who  is  rich  in  mercy,  for  His 
great  love  wherewith  He  loved  us,  even  when  we  were 
dead  in  sins,  hath  quickened  us  together  with  Christ ;  (by 
grace  ye  are  saved ;)  and  hath  raised  us  up  together,  and 
made  us  sit  together  in  heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus ; 
that  in  the  ages  to  come  He  might  shew  the  exceeding 
riches  of  His  grace,  in  His  kindness  toward  us  through 
Christ  Jesus.  Tor  by  grace  are  ye  saved  through  faith ; 
and  that  not  of  yourselves  :  it  is  the  gift  of  God:  not  of 
works,  lest  any  man  should  boast,"  (Eph.  ii.  4-9.) 

''  Dead  in  sins,"  so  the  Apostle  expresses  man's  con- 
dition without  Christ ;  not  sick  only,  but  dead ;  not  par- 
tially corrupt,  but  dead.  His  doctrine  of  man's  corruption 
through  sin  is  that  of  a  man  who  had  thoroughly  experi- 
enced that  through  Adam's  fall  man's  nature  has  become 
so  wholly  corrupt,  that  "  there  is  no  health  in  us  :  "  though 
himself  had  never  wallowed  in  the  mire  of  sin,  but  rather 
had  from  a  child  looked  with  detestation  upon  all  heathen 
abominations.  But  the  nobler,  according  to  human  reason, 
his  moral  aspirations  had  been,  the  more  determinedly  he 
had  exerted  all  the  strength  of  his  natural  will  to  attain 
unto  the  righteousness  required  by  the  law, — the  more 
penetrated  he  was  now  with  the  conviction,  that  "  by  the 
works  of  the  law  no  flesh  shall  be  justified  before  God," 
(Eom.  iii.  20 ;  Gal.  ii.  16.)  His  own  bitter  experience, 
which  had  abundantly  proved  what  carnal  Judaism,  carried 
to  the  utmost  stretch,  was  able  to  effect,  emboldened  him 
to  the  assertion,  that  by  the  law  every  mouth  is  stopped, 
and  all  the  world  becomes  guilty  before  God,  (Eom.  iii.  19.) 
By  manifesting  the  law  to  Israel,  God  lighted  up  the  dying 
embers  of  legal  light  still  glimmering  in  the  human  heart, 
(Eom.  ii.  15,)  and  convinced  all  mankind  that  the  law's 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  103 

"  Thou  shalt,"  and  "  Thou  shalt  not/'  are  unable  to  help 
man  unto  life  by  righteousness.  For  in  the  midst  of  Israel 
sin  abounded  to  the  very  killing  of  God's  own  Son,  and  it 
was  so  to  abound,  (Eom.  v.  20,)  that  a  despairing  Saul 
might  fall  into  the  arms  of  still  more  abounding  grace,  and 
hence  preach  to  a  guilty  world  the  redemption  we  have  in 
Christ's  blood.  God's  light  having  shined  into  his  own 
Pharisaic  darkness,  (2  Cor.  iv.  6,)  Paul's  righteousness 
by  faith  shines  bright  everywhere  in  the  light  of  its  an- 
tithesis to  that  by  the  law.  The  benefit  of  this  lies  in  its 
pedagogic  discipline,  which  he,  the  true  Israelite,  concedes 
to  all  nations.  Two  fundamental  tones  betoken  the  voice 
of  this — if  we  may  so  say — Universal  Apostle.  The  one 
is — There  is  no  difference  between  Jews  and  Gentiles,  as 
regards  their  bondage  under  sin,  (Eom.  iii.  9,)  in  which  all 
have  been  dead,  and  are  therefore  all  alike — Jews  as 
Gentiles — ''by  nature  the  children  of  wrath,"  (Eph.  ii. 
1-3;)  and  the  other  is — There  is  no  difference  between 
Jews  and  Gentiles  in  their  obtaining  God's  grace,  (Eom.  x. 
12  ;)  for  all  that  are  partakers  of  Abraham's  faith  are  the 
children  of  promise,  and  are  made  righteous  and  heirs  of 
eternal  life,  solely  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  (Eom.  iv. 
11;  Gal.  iii.  28.)  As  all  the  world  is  guilty  before  God, 
so  it  is  also  reconciled  unto  Him ;  for  ''  God  was  in  Christ 
reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself,"  (2  Cor.  v.  19.)  The 
priestly-central  position  of  Israel  for  all  tribes  on  earth 
had  been  the  highest  pride  of  youthful  Saul ;  but  it  was 
only  when  the  scales  feU  from  his  Pharisaic-  eyes  that 
Paul  understood  Israel's  glory :  Christ,  who  is  over  all, 
God  blessed  for  ever,  as  concerning  the  flesh,  cometh  of 
Israel,  (Eom.  ix.  5 ;)  being  found  in  fashion  as  a  man.  He 
humbled  Himself,  and  was  made  under  the  law,  (Phil.  ii. 
8  ;  Gal.  iv.  4 ;)  that  the  blessing  of  Abraham  might  come 
on  the  Gentiles  through  Jesus  Christ,  (Gal.  iii.  14.)     In- 


104  ST  PAUL. 

stead  of  law's  partition-wall  between  Jew  and  Gentile, 
which  He  broke  down,  He  now  reared  Israel's  enlarged 
gospel-tent,  lengthening  her  cords  and  strengthening  her 
stakes  all  over  the  earth,  HimseK  standing  between  God 
and  all  mankind,  the  all-sufficient  propitiation  through 
faith  in  His  blood,  (Eom.  iii.  25.)  Or  "  is  he  the  God  of 
the  Jews  only  ? "  Paul  asks  his  Hebrew  brethren,  "  Is  he 
not  also  of  the  Gentiles  ?  Yes,  of  the  Gentiles  also," 
(Eom.  iii.  29.)  Through  One  upon  all  —  this  is  the 
Apostle's  spirited  and  cogent  argument  in  the  fifth  of  Eo- 
mans.  His  faith  was  truly  catholic :  All-prevailing  sin, 
all-prevailing  grace;  all-reigning  death,  aU-reigning  life; 
all -crushing  condemnation,  aU- establishing  justification. 
This  was  the  fountain  whence  he  drew  his  strength.  "  I 
believe,  and  therefore  do  I  speak."  He  believed  with  all 
his  heart  that  Christ's  word,  "It  is  finished,"  dropped 
peace  on  all  mankind.  As  of  one  blood — Adam's — he 
saw  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  the  face  of  the  earth  ; 
so  through  one  blood — Christ's — he  saw  all  mankind  re- 
conciled. Of  the  loss  of  all  in  Adam  he  was  sure,  but — 
thanks  be  to  God ! — as  sure  of  the  gain  of  aU  in  Christ,  the 
Chief  and  Leader  of  a  new  mankind.  "  For  as  in  Adam  aU 
die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive,"  (1  Cor. 
XV.  22.) 

All  that  are  in  Christ  by  faith.  Paul  must  have  robbed 
the  inmost  sanctuary  of  his  Christian  heart,  had  he  sup- 
posed Faith  to  be  a  deed,  or  even  the  joint-deed,  of  man's 
"  free  will."  The  man  lying  in  the  dust  before  the  gates 
of  Damascus  would  have  given  him  the  He.  To  say  that 
God's  grace  draws  that  in  man,  which  is  akin  to  Him,  and 
that  He  rewards  man's  good-will  in  proportion  to  its  yield- 
ing to  such  drawing,  is  a  fable  told  to  whitewash  nature. 
Paul  knows  nothing  of  it ;  but  only  of  undeserved  mercy 
shewn  to  him,  that  is,  of  such  mercy  that  has  no  ground 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  105 

save  in  itself.  We  feel  how  he  gives  his  own  flesh  a  death- 
blow every  time  that  he  strips  man  of  all  claim  to  self- 
esteem  and  merit  before  God.  By  faith  in  Christ  he 
understood  the  history  of  man's  redemption,  from  first  to 
last,  to  be  one  of  supremely  free  grace.  Sure  as  he  was 
that,  while  in  unbelief,  though  of  Israel,  he  was  not  heir 
to  Israel's  promise ;  so  sure  he  was  also  that  the  promises 
of  God's  word  to  the  true  Israel  remained  steadfast,  in  spite 
of  the  whole  mass  of  unbelief  in  Israel  after  the  flesh.  He 
calls  prophets  and  patriarchs  to  witness  the  ever  and  anon 
manifested  principle  of  salvation,  according  to  which  those 
are  saved  in  whose  hearts  the  grace  of  the  CaUer  effects 
the  purpose  of  the  Chooser  to  the  obtaining  of  mercy  by 
receiving  Faith.  "  I  wilL  have  mercy  on  whom  I  will  have 
mercy,  and  I  will  have  compassion  on  whom  I  will  have 
compassion."  This  word  spoken  to  Moses  is  precious  to 
Paul ;  for  it  shews  Him  who  is  "  gracious  and  merciful  "  to 
be  Himself  the  sole  cause  of  His  grace  and  mercy,  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  and  every  merit  of  man's  co-operation. 
Yea,  the  Apostle  boldly  proceeds  to  the  very  sharpest  point 
of  Scripture-proof:  ''Therefore  hath  He  mercy  on  whom 
He  will  have  mercy,  and  whom  He  will  He  hardeneth;'* 
and  shews  by  the  example  of  Pharaoh,  that  even  the  un- 
believer's wicked  will  is  powerless  against  God ;  but  being 
hardened  by  resisting  God's  good- will,  is  brought  to  serve 
the  irresistible  will  of  his  Maker.  How  much  more,  then, 
will  God's  gracious  and  merciful  will  save  believers,  inde- 
pendent of  all  preventive  doing  on  the  part  of  man,  yea, 
unmixed  with  any  self-acting  of  the  human  will !  "  So 
then  it  is  not  of  him  that  willeth,  nor  of  him  that  runneth, 
but  of  God  that  sheweth  mercy."  Fearless  of  man's  reason- 
ing :  "  "Why  doth  He  yet  find  fault ;  for  who  hath  resisted 
His  will?"  the  Apostle  reposes  with  all  believers  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Triune-God's  eternal  ''  love,"  "  where- 


106  ST  PAUL. 

with,"  foreknowing,  forechoosing,  and  foreordaining,  '*  He 
hatli  loved"  Abraham's  race  in  Abraham's  seed,  and 
Adam's  race  in  the  second  Adam, — the  Son  of  man, — who 
hath  given  Himself  to  become  the  Author  of  man's  salva- 
tion. In  Him, — the  Lord  Jesus, — as  in  the  open  book  of 
life,  Paul  read  his  own  and  his  brethren's  names,  (Phil.  iv. 
3,)  written  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  (Eph.  i.  4 ;) 
and  to  be  chosen  in  Him  the  Beloved,  according  to  God's 
eternal  purpose  of  love — this  was  the  firm  rock  of  his  faith, 
which  no  deluge  could  shake,  (Eom.  viii.  28,  &c.)  But 
could  an  objection  like  the  following  escape  the  thinking 
Paul  ?  If  salvation  is  not  of  him  that  willeth,  nor  of  him 
that  runneth,  but  of  God  that  sheweth  mercy,  there  can  be 
but  these  two  alternatives  :  Either  God  will  have  mercy 
on  all,  and  work  in  their  hearts  faith  to  receive  His  grace ; 
and  then  all  men  must  finally  be  saved,  by  reason  of  His 
irresistible  will ;  or  God  wiU  have  mercy  only  on  some,  on 
others  not;  works  therefore  faith  in  some,  and  hardens 
others  in  unbelief,  according  to  the  absolute  will  of  His 
choice  ;  and  then  Christ  is  not  the  Mediator  and  Eedeemer 
of  all ;  and  God  is  not  all  light  and  love,  but  there  is  dark- 
ness and  unlove  in  Him  ?  Surely  Paul  needed  no  one  to 
usher  up  such  syllogisms  to  his  mind,  as  he  wrote  Eom.  ix. 
But  bold  and  fearless  as  he  is  in  pondering  over  the  re- 
vealed ways  and  judgments  of  God,  he  is  no  less  so  in  sub- 
duing, yea,  in  crushing  his  own  reason,  where  it  seeks  to 
darken  and  unsettle  Christ, — God  in  Christ, — as  revealed 
to  us  in  His  Word  and  work.  Predestination  to  him  is  a 
Divine  mystery  full  of  comfort  and  assurance  to  faith.  But 
both  the  system  of  the  would-be  wise,  who  desire  to  make 
God  the  slave  of  His  own  decrees,  and  degrade  man  to  a 
machine  in  the  world's  great  workshop,  and  the  sinister 
artfulness  of  the  work-proud,  who,  by  their  "necessary 
consequences  "  from  it,  seek  to  lead  that  apostolic  doctrine 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  107 

to  an  absurd  result,  Paul,  the  man  of  faith,  crushes  in 
one  blow,  by  saying,  ''  We  bring  into  captivity  every 
thought  to  the  obedience  of  Christ,"  (2  Cor.  x.  5.)  He  can 
bear  not  to  know  the  solution  of  these  mysteries  ;  in  man 
the  ability  not  to  will,  with  the  inability  to  will ;  and  in 
God  the  will  that  all  men  shall  be  saved,  with  the  will 
that  "he  that  believeth  not  shall  be  damned."  He  can 
rejoice  and  praise  God,  who  in  mercy  hath  fastened  in 
his  life  "  a  nail  in  a  sure  place,"  to  which  he  knows  him- 
self securely  fixed,  according  to  God's  eternal  purpose  of 
his  choice  in  Christ ;  and  he  checks  every  forward  thought 
of  a  twofold,  coeternal  purpose  in  God  foredetermining 
the  lot  of  each  individual,  either  to  the  right  hand  or  left. 
Instead  of  speculating,  he  adores,  (Eom.  xi.  33-36.) 

Paul  knows  the  All-merciful  to  be  the  righteous  Judge, 
(2  Tim.  iv.  8.)  Drawn  before  His  judgment-seat,  and 
witnessed  against  by  His  accusing  law,  he  has  heard  the 
sentence,  "  Thou  art  guilty  of  death ; "  but  he  has  also 
seen  the  Surety,  "who  has  blotted  out  the  handwriting 
against  him,  and  nailed  it  to  the  cross,"  (Col.  ii.  14.)  With 
him  justification  and  the  forgiveness  of  sin  are  essentially 
one,  (Rom.  iv.  6-8,)  and  mercy's  full  reprieve  is  sure  to 
him,  because  it  is  the  righteous  Judge,  who  pronounces  the 
sentence  of  grace.  "  We  are,"  he  writes  in  that  cardinal 
passage  of  the  Eomans,  ''justified  freely  by  His  grace, 
through  the  redemption  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus  ;  whom  God 
hath  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in  His 
blood,  to  declare  His  righteousness  for  the  remission  of 
sins  that  are  past;  to  declare,  I  say,  at  this  time  His 
righteousness ;  that  He  might  be  just,  and  the  justifier  of 
him  which  believeth  in  Jesus,"  (Rom.  iii.  24-26.)  "  Sin 
could  not  unrevenged  remain.  Its  sentence  had  been  long 
declared,  And  executed  it  must  one  day  be  Here  on  this 
wicked  earth.     What  sin  was,  and  what  loner  it  had  de- 


108  ST  PAUL. 

served,  God  would  bear  witness ;  and  in  man's  redemption 
He  broke  His  silence,  shewing  wrath  severe."  These  lines 
of  Freylinghausen  exactly  hit  Paul's  meaning.  That  our 
God  is  a  consuming  fire,  (Heb.  xii.  29,)  was  by  no  means 
stripped  off  his  creed,  as  an  antiquated  Jewish  notion,  but 
was  only  rightly  understood  by  him  in  the  light  of  CJirist's 
cross.  Therefore  he  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  effeminate 
or  light-minded,  who  fancy  themselves  free  from  God's 
wrath,  and  call  the  dreams  of  their  imagination  faith.  The 
rock,  whereon  his  faith  was  founded,  is  Christ  and  His 
blood ;  and  the  righteousness  by  faith,  wherein  he  boldly 
appeared  before  God,  is  purely  and  entirely  a  gift  of  grace 
(Eom.  V.  17)  purchased  by  Christ's  obedience  and  satis- 
faction. Here,  in  the  matter  of  justification,  he  has  learnt 
what  faith  is — viz.,  the  heart's  mouth  opened  by  Divine 
grace  to  receive  into  it  Jesus  Christ,  and  all  the  treasures 
of  His  merits  purchased  for  us  by  His  blood.  Imputed, 
and  therefore  complete,  is  the  righteousness  faith  has  in 
Him,  (Eom.  iv.  3,  &c. ;  Phil.  iii.  9.)  Not  unto  us,  but  unto 
Christ  in  our  stead,  hath  God  imputed  our  sins,  (2  Cor.  v. 
19-21,)  and  hath  condemned  sin  in  the  flesh  of  His  own 
Son,  (Eom.  viii.  3,)  in  order  that  both  righteously  and 
graciously  He  might,  by  a  gospel- declaration,  impute  us 
Christ's  righteousness.  Luther's  precious  word  "alone" 
in  Eom.  iii.  28,  though  it  does  not  stand  there  in  Greek 
letters,  yet  stands  clear  and  bright  in  Paul's  heart :  By  faith 
alone.  All  works  of  the  law,  be  they  "preventing"  or 
"  accompanying ; "  yea,  and  all  of  the  soul's  renewed  will, 
be  they  "  co-operating  "  or  "  following," — in  short,  all  works 
Paul  will  have  utterly  excluded  from  the  gracious  act  of 
the  sinner's  justification.  The  "  gift  of  righteousness  "  is 
to  be  by  faith  alone.  Each  and  every  addition  of  work  to 
faith  is  a  poison  to  faith.  Grace  the  giver,  faith  the  re- 
ceiver :  this  is  Paul's  mind  and  doctrine.     Grace  will  reign 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  109 

supreme,  or  not  at  all ;  will  be  received  by  faith  alone,  or 
remain  at  a  distance.  The  light  of  the  Sun  of  Grace  is  so 
delicate,  so  pure  and  transparent,  that  it  can  bear  no  mix- 
ture with  the  slightest  glare  of  a  strange  fire ;  yea,  the  re- 
flection even  of  her  own  brightness  (''  faith  of  itself  gives 
forth  the  shine,")  she  will  not  bear  being  mixed  with  her- 
self, where  the  shadeless  brightness  and  spotless  purity  is 
concerned,  in  which  the  sinner  is  to  stand  righteous  before 
God,  (Eom.  xi.  6.) 

"  The  prison  we  were  sitting  in,  gnawing  our  hearts  with 
sorrow  clean,  is  burst  in  twain,  and  we  are  free !  "  (cf.  Ps. 
cxxiv.  7.)  Such  rejoicing  of  grace's  freed  children  Paul 
taught  us,  when  by  faith  he  had  broken  through  the  prison 
of  sin  and  the  law  into  the  open  liberty  of  the  Gospel. 
Very  aptly  does  the  church,  on  "Lsetare"  Sunday,  read 
the  word  :  "  So  then,  brethren,  we  are  not  children  of  the 
bondwoman,  but  of  the  free,"  (Gal.  iv.  31.)  St  Paul  is  in- 
exhaustible in  his  praise  of  the  liberty  of  the  righteous  by 
faith,  the  substance  of  which  he  pronounces  to  be — free- 
dom from  the  law.  And  a  dearly-purchased  freedom  this 
is.  For  to  be  freed  from  its  durance  by  Divine  right,  we 
had  to  get  our  divorce  from  it  by  death ;  and  this  has  been 
accomplished  in  a  twofold  way  :  The  husband  to  whom 
we  were  bound,  even  the  law,  was  killed  when  its  condem- 
natory sting  was  broken  in  the  broken  body  of  the  flesh 
of  our  blessed  Saviour,  and  by  reason  of  this  we  also,  who 
are  of  the  faith  of  Jesus,  have  become  dead  unto  the  law, 
to  live  unto  another — viz.,  to  Him  who  is  raised  from  the 
dead,  (Rom.  vii.  1,  &c.;  2  Cor.  v.  14,  15.)  "Through  the 
law  I  am  dead  to  the  law  " — thus  rejoices  the  living  Paul, 
(Gal.  ii.  19.)  As  "  crucified  with  Christ "  he  is  dead 
through  the  law,  because  the  law's  curse  has  been  borne 
and  discharged  by  Him,  who  "  hanged  on  a  tree,"  (Gal.  iii. 
13;)  and  dead  ^o  the  law,  because  its  condemnation  hav- 


110  ST  PAUL. 

ing  been  exhausted  upon  Christ,  those  who  are  baptized 
into  His  death  are  thereby  freed  from  the  law,  and  live  by- 
faith  in  Christ,  and  unto  Him,  (Eom.  vi.  3-11.)  "The 
law  is  not  made  for  a  righteous  man,"  (1  Tim.  i.  9.)  But 
Paul's  liberty  from  ''the  yoke  of  bondage,"  (Gal.  v.  1,)  is 
not  all  told  by  saying  that  it  is  the  freedom  from  law's 
curse  and  constraint.  It  is  both  this ;  for  from  its  curse 
we  are  redeemed  by  Christ's  all-sufficient  satisfaction  for 
us,  and  from  its  constraint  we  are  delivered  by  Christ's 
Spirit  in  us,  w^ho  frees  our  will,  and  causes  us  to  "  delight 
in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  mai>."  But  it  is  more 
still.  We  are  freed  also  from  "  the  law  of  commandments 
contained  in  ordinances,"  (Eph.  ii.  15.)  Through  its  being 
inscribed  by  the  Spirit  into  the  hearts  of  believers,  they 
obey  God,  not  by  constraint  of  the  obligatory  letter,  but 
by  that  of  the  spirit  of  liberty,  (2  Cor.  iii.  17,)  as  His  chil- 
dren, (Gal.  iv.  5,  6.)  In  striking  contrast  with  the  "  spirit 
of  bondage,"  Paul  views  the  "  Spirit  of  adoption,"  (Eom. 
viii.  15.)  Now  we  shall  understand  the  holy  wrath, 
wherewith  this  manly  Paul  faces  the  false  brethren,  who 
want  to  bring  again  under  the  yoke  of  bondage  the  free- 
men of  Jesus  Christ,  (Gal.  ii.  4,  5.)  The  truth  of  the  Gos- 
pel remains  with  them  only,  who  through  faith  ''stand 
fast  in  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free." 

"  What  then  ?  shall  we  sin,  because  we  are  not  under 
the  law,  but  under  grace  ? "  (Eom.  vi.  15.)  Eight  well 
did  Paul  know  this  question.  His  old  man — Saul  the 
Pharisee — must  doubtless  often  have  stoutly  equipped 
himself  with  it  against  the  doctrine  of  the  Nazarene.  But 
what  Paul's  graceful  disciple,  Augustine,  thus  expresses : 
"  Servitium  Domini  summa  libertas," — the  Lord's  service 
is  the  highest  liberty, — is  spoken  after  the  very  heart  of 
his  great  teacher.  Emphatically  the  Apostle  calls  himself 
the  servant  of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  the  servants  of  righteous- 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  Ill 

ness  are  those  over  whom  sin  can  reign  no  more,  because 
they  are  not  under  the  law,  but  under  grace.  The  being 
kept  under  the  law,  (Gal.  iii.  23,)  certainly  leads  to  the 
knowledge  of  sin,  yea,  and  to  the  ever-increasing  strength 
of  its  hard-felt  sway,  but  never  to  a  breach  with  it  and  its 
power.  Terribly  kill  the  law  can,  but  never  raise  the 
dead  to  life.  It  can  pour  into  the  heart  of  man  neither 
the  love  of  good  it  commands,  nor  the  hate  to  evil  it  en- 
joins. But  what  the  Law  cannot  do  Grace  can  do.  With 
an  indignant  "  God  forbid  !  "  Paul  scorns  away  the  ques- 
tion, "Shall  we  sin?"  and  shews  to  his  brethren  how 
faith  makes  God's  children  to  be  the  servants  of  righteous- 
ness unto  holiness.  Right  solidly  he  speaks  in  calling  all 
that  are  freed  from  the  law  of  sin  the  bondsmen  of  right- 
eousness. And  as  to  faith  alone  he  attributes  the  grace  of 
justification,  so  also  with  equal  decidedness  does  he  ascribe 
to  it  the  works  of  true  righteousness  in  the  spiritual  life 
of  those  that  are  justified  by  it.  "  Yea,  we  establish  the 
law,"  (Eom.  iii.  31,)  says  the  preacher  of  faith.  It  could 
not  establish  itself,  but  it  is  established  through  faith — in 
those  that  walk  after  the  rule :  "  We  will  fear  and  love 
God,  that  we  may  keep  His  commandments;"  in  the  ser- 
vants of  righteousness — who  experience  Christ  to  be  the 
end  of  the  law  also  in  this  sense,  "  that  the  righteousness 
of  the  law  might  be  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the 
flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit,"  (Rom.  viii.  4.)  Paul's  own  life 
is  the  best  refutation  of  the  foolish  assertion,  that  his  doc- 
trine tends  to  Antinomianism.  Behold  !  what  a  life  was  that 
of  which  he  says  :  "  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in 
me :  and  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live  by 
the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me,  and  gave  Him- 
self for  me,"  (Gal.  ii.  20.)  ''  Brethren,  be  followers  together 
of  me  ;  "  thus  he  dared  to  exhort  his  Philippians,  (Phil.  iii. 
17,)  whom  he  wished  to  be  "  filled  with  the  fruits  of  right- 


112  ST  PAUL. 

eousness,  which  are  by  Jesus  Christ  unto  the  glory  and 
praise  of  God,"  (PhiL  i.  11.) 

And  whereby  does  grace  accomplish  the  work,  which  in 
Paul  stands  so  prominently  before  our  eyes?  Whereby 
did  this  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  bring  to  the  congregation 
of  saints  world-intoxicated  Corinthians,  Satan-bound  Ephe- 
sians,  and  frivolous  Eomans  ?  As  he  had  himself  received 
salvation,  so  he  communicated  it.  Not  all  indeed  are 
apostles,  therefore  he  refers  no  one  to  revelations  direct 
from  heaven ;  but  all  are  sinners,  like  him,  and  redeemed 
like  him,  and  in  the  same  way  in  which  he  himself  became 
partaker  of  Christ — viz.,  by  the  preaching  of  the  Word  and 
administering  of  the  Sacrament  all  shall  be  saved  through 
faith.  "  Faith  cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word 
of  God,"  (Eom.  x.  17.)  The  word  of  God  is  pervaded  by 
the  Spirit  of  God,  and  filled  with  "  the  power  of  God  unto 
salvation ;  "  whether  through  oral  preaching  it  first  reach 
the  comprehending  sense,  or  first  seize  by  sacramental  sign 
the  bodily  senses — that  the  voice,  this  the  kiss,  so  to  speak, 
of  the  Spirit.  Everywhere  the  Apostle  fastens  the  Chris- 
tian's consolation  of  faith  and  vigour  of  life  to  the  creating 
and  preserving  word  of  God's  Spirit,  which  both  audibly 
and  visibly,  in  voice  and  sacrament,  is  dispensed  in  the 
Church  of  Christ.  Eeconciliation,  word  of  reconciliation 
and  ministry  of  reconciliation,  (2  Cor.  v.  18,  &c. ;)  faith  and 
baptism,  (Eph.  iv.  5;  Gal.  iii.  26,  27;)  washing  of  regene- 
ration and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  (Tit.  iii.  5 ;)  the 
hearing  of  faith  and  receiving  of  the  Spirit,  (Gal.  iii.  2  ;)  all 
these  he  joins  intimately  together,  and  in  that  beautiful 
passage,  where  he  makes  the  faith  of  righteousness  speak 
Moses'  words,  which  in  her  mouth  become  evangelical, 
he  especially  adores  Christ's  reachable  nearness  to  faith, 
as  being  present  in  the  Word,  (Eom.  x.  6,  &c.)  God 
the  Holy  Ghost  he  sees  personally  at  work  in  sanctifying 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  113 

believers,  (2  Cor.  iii.  17, 18,)  and  to  His  witness  lie  ascribes 
the  assurance  of  our  adoption  as  God's  children,  (Rom.  viii. 
16.)  But  not  from  the  store  of  his  "  Christian  conscious- 
ness," or  such  like  subjectivities,  did  Paul  take  the  witness 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  from  the  Gospel  spoken  through  the 
ear  into  his  heart,  in  the  name  of  Jesus :  ''  Thy  sins  are  for- 
given thee."  This  absolution  came  to  him,  and  comes  to 
all  that  are  baptized  into  Christ's  death  (Eom.  vi.  3,  &c.) 
through  the  service  of  the  Church,  to  which  the  exalted 
Christ  in  heaven  has  committed  the  means  of  grace, 
and  the  office,  by  preaching  and  administering  of  the  sacra- 
ments, to  communicate  the  Holy  Ghost,*  "  who  daily  and 
richly  forgiveth  mine  and  all  believers'  sins ;  and,  by  this 
very  forgiveness,  beareth  witness  with  my  spirit  that  I  am 
God's  child  and  heir."  Do  I  receive  such  witness  by  faith? 
I  am  "sealed,"  (Eph.  i.  13 ;)  or,  as  Luther  says,  ''my  ex- 
perience agreeth  with  the  preached  word."  Paul  lived  after 
the  order  given  by  the  Lord  to  him, — "  Arise,  and  go  into 
the  city,  and  it  shall  be  told  thee  what  thou  must  do," 
(Acts  ix.  6,)-:— and  has  taught  all  men  there  to  look  for  the 
grace  of  Jesus  Christ,  where  He  has  put  the  memorial  of 
His  name ;  as  it  is  written,  "  How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of 
them  that  preach  the  Gospel  of  peace,  and  bring  glad  tid- 
ings of  good  things,"  (Rom.  x.  15.) 

Paul's  faith  is  grounded  on  God's  Word  :  ''  So  then  faith 
Cometh  by  hearing,  and  hearing  by  the  word  of  God," 
(Rom.  X.  17.)  The  Word  of  God  which  he  had  heard  in  the 
Lord's  voice  from  heaven,  and  through  the  witness  of  His 
Church  on  earth,  he  found  again  in  the  voice  and  testimony 

*  I  trust  it  will  meet  the  author's  sense,  if  we  modify  this  expression  by 
saying-,  "  The  Holy  Ghost  is  pleased  to  communicate  Himself  (ordinarily) 
through  these  means; "  for  so  we  find  it  ever  where  the  apostles  theimelves 
were  the  dispensers  of  them,  (Acts  x.  4,  xix.  6.)  Only  Christ  could  say, 
"  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost,"  and  "  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee.'' — Tk. 

H 


114  ST  PAUL. 

of  the  same  Spirit  in  Scripture ;  and  richly  did  his  preach- 
ing, as  his  hearing,  come  by  the  Word  of  God.  Because  he 
knew  and  understood  the  Church  of  Christ  to  be  the  un- 
veiled Israel,  the  Church's  King  and  Head  to  be  the  pro- 
mised son  of  David,  and  the  crucified  and  risen  Eedeemer 
to  be  the  real  mercy-seat  and  true  Paschal  Lamb  ;  therefore 
he  could  testify  before  Agrippa  that  he  "  witnessed  to  both 
small  and  great,  saying  none  other  things  than  those  which 
the  prophets  and  Moses  did  say  should  come,"  (Acts  xxvi. 
22.)  "  According  to  the  Scriptures '' — herewith  he  seals  his 
delivery  of  the  heaven-received  Gospel,  (1  Cor.  xv.  3,  &c.) 
Who  knows  not  that  Paul,  in  searching  the  Scriptures,  is 
a  very  pearl-fisher,  a  true  digger  after  hidden  treasures  ? 
He  found,  and  he  has  delivered  to  us,  the  key  to  all  the 
Scriptures.  Luther  draws  attention  to  the  fact,  that  in  the 
very  Epistle  (that  to  the  Eomans)  which  is  addressed  to  a 
congregation  gathered  mainly  from  the  Gentiles,  the  pro- 
phetic word,  from  beginning  to  end,  runs  provingly  parallel 
to  the  apostolic  :  "  Therefore  it  seemeth  as  if  St  Paul  in  this 
epistle  had  wanted  for  once  to  compose  a  manual  of  the 
whole  Christian  and  evangelic  doctrine,  and  an  introduc- 
tion into  the  whole  Old  Testament.  Por  doubtless  he  who 
hath  this  epistle  well  in  his  heart,  hath  in  it  also  the  light 
and  power  of  the  Old  Testament."  The  theme  and  main 
topic  of  this  epistle  he  confirms  with  Habakkuk's  prophecy, 
''The  just  shall  live  by  faith,"  (Eev.  i.  17,)  from  which  he 
unfolds  all  the  Gospel's  richest  treasures.  By  Abraham's 
example  he  illustrates  the  righteousness  of  faith  as  given 
by  imputation,  (Eom.  iv. ;)  and  the  sacred  window  in  the 
evangelical  edifice,  through  which  we  look  into  the  mystery 
of  predestination,  he  frames  round  about  with  the  prophetic 
word,  (Eom.  ix.-xi.;)  nor  when  treating  of  the  ''new  com- 
mandment" of  love  does  he  think  that  he  can  do  it  better, 
or  speak  of  it  more  according  to  the  Spirit,  than  by  addu- 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  115 

cing  a  prophetic  word,  (Eom.  xii.  19,  20.)  He  puts  Christ 
before  us,  as  our  example  in  patience,  by  quoting  a  word 
from  the  Psalms,  (Ps.  Ixix.  9 ;  Eom.  xv.  3,)  and  then  adds, 
(ver.  4,)  "For  whatsoever  things  were  written  aforetime 
were  written  for  our  learning;  that  we,  through  patience  and 
comfort  of  the  Scriptures,  might  have  hope."  Yea,  truly 
saturated  with  "  comfort  of  the  Scriptures"  is  his  faith ;  for 
so  he  understood  them — after  the  veil  was  taken  from  his 
eyes — that  their  end  and  fulfilment  is  Jesus  Christ.  Does 
he  view  in  the  light  of  Holy  Writ  God's  judgments  and  way 
of  salvation,  past,  present,  and  future?  (as  in  Acts  xiii.,  and 
1  Cor.  X. ;)  or  gather  God's  accusations  against  sinners  from 
the  law  and  its  expounders,  the  prophets?  (as  in  Eom.  iii. ;) 
or  bind  bundles  of  evangelical  comfort  out  of  several 
prophetic  passages  together?  (as  in  Eom.  xi.  26,  &c. ;  and  1 
Cor.  XV.  54,  55  ;  and  especially  2  Cor.  vi.  16-18.)  Always 
we  see  him  regard  Scripture  with  reverence,  as  a  sacred 
whole  that  cannot  be  broken,  (John  x.  35,)  and  seize  it  as 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  (Eph.  vi.  17.)  "And  he  doth  so," 
says  Luther,  "  after  the  manner  of  his  own  rich  spirit,  by 
smelting  a  number  of  passages  in  one  heap,  and  moulding 
a  text  from  it,  such  as  bears  the  sense  of  the  whole  Scrip- 
ture." The  "  perpetual  statute  "  *  of  every  word  that  ever 
proceeded  from  the  mouth  of  God  he  found  laid  up  in 
store — that  is  to  say,  raised  and  promoted  from  prediction 
to  fulfilment,  unclad  of  its  earthly  tabernacle,  advanced  to 
heavenly  substance,  (Heb.  viii.  5,)  securely  preserved  in 
Christ.  Thus  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  put  them  in  pos- 
session of  Israel's  advantage  in  possessing  ''the  oracles  of 

*  A  rather  abstruse  sentence  this.  I  should  think  the  author  must  mean 
that  the  Apostle  looked  upon  every  word  of  God,  though  apparently  hui  ap- 
plying to  a  gone-by  or  going-by  time,  as  abiding  the  same  for  ever,  while 
undergoing  the  different  phases  from  prediction  to  fulfilment,  from  shadow 
to  substance ;  all  being  fulfilled  and  come  to  substance  in  Christ. — Te. 


116  ST  PAUL. 

God,"*  (Rom.  iii.  1,  2.)  To  the  unbelieving  Jews  the  Bible 
has  become  a  sealed  book,  (Acts  xiii.  27.)  In  Christ  it  is 
opened,  and  speaks  in  His  Church.  "  God  speaketh  in  His 
sanctuary,  thereof  I  am  glad,"  (Ps.  cviii.  7,  Luther's  transl.) 
The  Scripture  "  saith."  And  the  disciples  of  the  apostolic 
word  gladly  sit  down  with  Timothy  at  the  feet  of  Moses 
and  the  prophets,  in  order  to  test  the  truth  of  Paul's  boast 
of  the  Scriptures,  "  Continue  thou  in  the  things  which  thou 
hast  learned,  and  hast  been  assured  of,  knowing  of  whom 
thou  hast  learned  them ;  and  that  from  a  child  thou  hast 
known  the  holy  Scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make  thee 
wise  unto  salvation,  through  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus. 
All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,  and  is  profit- 
able for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction 
in  righteousness;  that  the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect, 
throughly   furnished  unto  all   good  works,"    (2  Tim.  iii. 

14-17.) 

But  it  is  in  the  centre  of  his  Epistle  to  the  Eomans  that 
we  see  to  perfection  the  picture  of  "  the  man  of  faith,"  in 
his  lament  in  the  7th  and  in  his  triumph  in  the  8th  chap- 
ter. Dead  to  sin,  freed  from  the  law,  a  servant  to  right- 
eousness, devoted  to  God's  service  in  newness  of  the  Spirit, 
made  alive  from  the  dead — does  all  this  mean  that  the  re- 
newed Christian  is  sinless,  no  more  carnal,  but  completely 
spiritual,  affected  by  the  law  no  more  than  the  angels  that 
do  God's  will  in  heaven,  and  touched  by  death  no  more 
than  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect,  who  have  done 
with  death  and  all  below  ?     Ah !  did  it  mean  this,  and  had 

*  As  Jewish  scribe  already  Saul  had  become  familiar  with  the  Hebrew 
original  of  the  Old  Testament.  Yet  St  Paul  generally  makes  use  of  the 
official  Greek  translation,  (Septuagint^)  because  it  suited  the  Gentiles,  and 
had  recourse  to  the  Hebrew  text  only  where  it  was  needful  or  useful.  The 
wisdom  of  a  father,  not  the  interest  of  a  scholastic,  guided  the  interpreter 
of  Scripture. 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  117 

Paul  deemed  himself  such  a  saint,  then  he  were  not  the 
man  of  faith  he  is,  and  his  picture  were  frightful  like  a 
spectre.  But  our  evangelical  Saint  is  comforting  and  edi- 
fying to  behold  by  his  fellow-sinners  and  fellow-saints,  to 
whom  there  is  no  condemnation,  because  they  are  in  Christ 
Jesus  by  faith. 

He  that  exhorts  his  brethren  to  follow  him  in  the  way 
of  holiness  would  not*  have  them  ignorant  that  faith  in  the 
forgiveness  of  sin  was,  and  ever  would  be,  his  sole  comfort, 
not  only  in  regard  to  his  past  life  without  Christ,  but  also 
in  his  present  with  and  in  Him.  He  had  put  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ;  and  being  sanctified  by  the  gracious  act  of 
justification  and  regeneration,  he  was  "led  of  the  Spirit," 
and  no  longer  "under  the  law,"  (Gal.  v.  18.)  Having  be- 
come conformable  and,  as  it  were,  akin  to  the  law  of  the 
Spirit,  he  now  found  in  himself,  what  in  his  unregenerate 
state  he  had  never  found,  that  he  had  a  "  delight  in  the  law 
of  God  after  the  inward  man,"  and  could  now  look  upon  it 
with  a  clear,  unevil  eye.  That  ''the  statutes  of  the  Lord 
are  right "  he  had  learnt  from  his  youth,  but  that  "  they  con- 
vert the  soul  and  rejoice  the  heart,"  (Ps.  xix.  7,  8,)  he  only 
learnt  to  know  in  Christ ;  and  therefore  felt  constrained  to 
defend  the  law,  as  holy,  just,  and  good,  against  the  miscon- 
ception of  his  evangelical  doctrine  and  teaching,  as  though 
the  law  were  the  cause  of  man's  corruption,  which  it  only 
brings  to  light.  Yet  he  would  have  spoken  untruth,  if  by 
the  expressions  ''it  slew  me,"  "  and  I  died,"  he  had  meant 
to  represent  the  deadly  effects  of  the  law,  as  once  for  all 
completed  in  his  past  experience.  Therewith  he  would 
have  shut  himself  out  from  the  experience  of  all  his  breth- 
ren, who,  though  become  dead  to  both,  still  feel  the  law,  as 
stiU  they  feel  sin,  and  cry  "  Woe  1"  under  it.  But,  on  the 
contrary,  he  says,  "  We  know  that  the  law  is  spiritual,  but 
I  am  carnal,  sold  under  sin."     For  this  ''but  I"  we  will 


118  ST  PAUL. 

kiss  Paul's  hand.  The  same  trials  and  temptations,  against 
which  other  Christian  men  lie  in  the  field, — ''I  'gainst 
myself  in  deadly  combat  lie/' — passed  over  tliis  greatly 
honoured  servant  of  Christ.  He  whose  faitli  we  desire  to 
follow  strengthens  our  soul  by  the  spiritual  gift  of  his  open 
confession,  that  as  renewed  Christian  the  conflict  between 
flesh  and  spirit  was  still  his  daily  experience.  The  smart 
of  the  killing  letter  therefore  was  not  obsolete,  and  the  use 
of  the  law,  as  working  knowledge  of  sin,  no  antiquated 
thing  with  him.  The  preacher  of  liberty  from  the  law 
never  was,  nor  could  be,  an  Antinomian,  because  he  was 
far  from  the  anti- scriptural  notion  of  having  no  more  sin. 
What  in  Gal.  v.  17  he  thus  expresses,  "The  flesh  lusteth 
against  the  spirit,  and  the  spirit  against  the  flesh;  and 
these  are  contrary  the  one  to  the  other,  so  that  ye  cannot 
do  the  things  that  ye  would,"  is  the  same  confession  he 
makes  in  Eom.  vii.  Only  by  daily  conflict  did  he  pass  to 
daily  victory ;  and  his  sigh  under  the  deep  smart  of  sin  and 
death — "  Oh,  wretched  man  that  I  am  1  who  shall  deliver 
me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? " — was  as  much  the  expres- 
sion of  his  present  experience,  as  the  triumph  of  faith  by 
which  it  is  followed,  "  I  thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord."  To  his  great  comfort  he  knew  that  it  was  the 
Lord  Jesus  who  would  judge  him,  (1  Cor.  iv.  3-5 ;)  for  even 
where  he  might  be  unconscious  of  wrong,  ("  I  know  nothing 
by  myself,")  he  could  not  deem  himself  justified,  because 
he  had  to  distrust  the  sentence  of  his  own  conscience,  as 
biased  by  the  flesh.  Yet  not  only  for  his  ''  secret  faults  " 
did  he  need  Christ's  daily  free  forgiveness,  but  he  declares, 
"  I  know  that  in  me,  that  is  in  my  flesh,  dwelleth  no  good 
thing  :  for  to  will  is  present  with  me,  but  how  to  perform 
that  which  I  would  I  find  not."  Thus  speaks  the  man  to 
whose  holy  life  we  look  up  with  reverent  marvel.  He  does 
not  say  that  once  there  dwelt  no  good  thing  in  his  flesh ; 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  119 

nor  does  lie  mean  to  say  tliat,  irrespective  of  renewing  grace, 
there  dwelt  no  good  in  liim.  He  does  not  reserve  the 
thought,  that  now  indeed  he  was  doing  something  good  be- 
fore God,  but  that  this  had  not  groMai  on  the  soil  of  his 
old,  but  of  his  new  inner  man,  and  was  therefore  the  work 
of  his  lenewed  nature  by  grace.  'No ;  of  his  own  concrete 
"  I "  he  speaks,  who  has  to  acknowledge  the  flesh  as  his 
flesh,  arid  the  whole  inheritance  from  Adam  as  his  inherit- 
ance. Of  this  his  sinful  flesh,  wherein  neither  ever  dwelt, 
nor  now  dwells,  any  good  thing,  he  declares  that  it  hinders 
him — the  renewed  Christian — in  the  performance  of  the 
good  whieh  he  "  would  "  do.  So  as  with  ardent  desire  he 
sought  to  do  it,  so  as  it  must  be  done  to  render  man  right- 
eous befoie  God,  from  pure  delight  in  obedience,  ever  dis- 
posed to  do  God's  will,  and  yet  never  inclined  to  seek 
himself  ii  so  doing — in  short,  as  Christ  the  Just  One  did 
that  whidi  is  good :  so  Paul  never  did  any  one  out  of 
his  many  ^ood  works.  So  soon  as  the  slightest  thought  of 
self-satis faction  over  any  done  work  rose  in  his  mind, 
though  dijguised  to  indiscernibleness  by  heartfelt  thanks 
to  God  foi  his  given  strength,  lo !  the  commandment  would 
stand  at  tie  door,  and  say,  "Thou  shalt  not  covet;"  and 
thus  agair  all  was  over  with  his  life  by  the  law.  ''  In  great 
things  it  lufficeth  to  will  them,"  and  most  of  all  in  that 
which  is  tie  greatest  thing — viz.,  holiness.  But  Paul's  cer- 
tainly wai  no  feeble,  impotent  willing  that  which  is  good, 
after  ihe  manner  of  "good  resolves,"  which  ever  and  anon 
the  Itw  exacts  even  from  unbelievers.  No ;  his  life  bears 
othe]  witness  !  Yet  the  saint  who  saw  the  crown  of  right- 
eousiess  laid  up  for  his  martyred  head  falls  low  at  the  feet 
of  tie  righteous  Judge,  and  confesses  that  by  the  law  giving 
life  )nly  to  its  fulfillers  he  ought  to  be  condemned  to  death, 
butseizes  upon  the  faithful  saying,  worthy  of  all  accepta- 
tioi,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners, 


120  ST  PAUL. 

"  of  whom  I  am  chief" — not  was,  but  "  a?7i,"  (1  Tim.  i.  15.) 
Paul   submitted,   though    not   without   a   groan,    to    the 
wretched  lot  of  a  never-ceasing,  but  ever-harassing,  war 
against  sin,  which — as  a  robber  and  rebel  against  the  new 
man  in  Clirist — continued  to  dwell  in  his  flesh.     To  break 
the  iron  ''law  "  of  contradiction  between  willing  and  doing 
by  keeping  under  his  body,  in  which  he  certainly  was  no 
weakling,  (1  Cor.  ix.  27,)  or  to  purchase  a  truce  vith  sin 
by  any  ''voluntary  humility,"  this  he  never  deemed  the 
work  of  a  Christian  man.     The  law  of  God  which  le  loved, 
and  the  law  of  sin  which  he  hated — the  echoing  "  Yes  "  of 
the  inner  man  to  the  law  in  his  mind,  and  Sattn's  other 
law  in  his  members,  that  brought  him  into  captivity  to  the 
law  of  sin — this  feeling  of  unceasing  discord  within  him 
made  him  exclaim,  "  Oh,  wretched  man  that  I  am !  who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? "    But  he 
went  on  with  "  cleansing  himself  from  all  lilthiiEss  of  the 
flesh  and  spirit,"  with  "bringing  his  body  into  stbjection," 
with  "crucifying  the  flesh  with  the  afl'ections  kid  lusts," 
with  "  yielding  his  members  as  instruments  of  pghteous- 
ness  unto  God;''  in  fine,  with  "perfecting  holiiiess  in  the 
fear  of  God,"  (2  Cor.  vii.  1.)     Moreover,  he  dsa^  experi- 
enced that  he  needed  such  "going  on,"  as  one  who  had 
not  already  attained,  neither  was  already  perfectj  (Phil.  iii. 
12;)  and  that,  because  the  "law"  in  his  memWrs  went 
on  with  warring  and  bringing  into  captivity  to  pe  hated 
service  of  sin.     "So  then,  with  the  mind  I  myself  serve 
the  law  of  God ;  but  with  the  flesh  the  law  of  sin."    ^here 
the  willing  service  of  joy  and  liberty,  here  the  compui^ory 
service  of  a  hated  villanage. 

But,  imprisoned  as  yet  he  was  in  the  body  of  this  dtith, 
Paul  could  sing  of  deliverance  by  faith :  "I  thank  ti^od 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."  In  one  breath  he  grimes 
and  joys ;  but  the  Christian  joy  got  the  mastery  over  the 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  121 

Christian  sorrow,  because  the  spirit  triumphed  over  the 
flesh.  Being  found  by  faith  in  Christ,  and  having  pardon 
and  acceptance,  life  and  righteousness,  conferred  by  Him, 
he  knows  himself  free  from  condemnation,  under  which 
unbelievers  are  held  by  the  law  of  sin  and  death.  By  the 
indwelling  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ  he  knows  himself  con- 
queror ;  in  His  strength  he  can  renounce  the  sensual  law 
in  his  flesh,  and  become  heartily  subject  to  the  spiritual 
law  of  God ;  to  his  mortal  body,  also,  he  knows  that  resur- 
rection and  life  are  secured  in  Christ.  Here,  in  Eom.  viii., 
he  changes  his  mournful  ''I"  into  a  joyful  "We"  and 
''  You."  The  Christian's  woe  of  sin  he  has  taken  on  him- 
self; who  dares  to  plead  exemption?  The  Christian's 
glory  he  awards  to  all  his  brethren  in  Christ.  Finally, 
after  having  described  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  be- 
lievers, and  His  first-fruits  in  their  hearts,  the  Spirit's  guid- 
ance and  witness,  His  adoption  and  glorious  liberty.  His 
expectant  hope  and  comfort  under  all  sufferings  of  this 
present  time,  ending  in  that  song  of  triumph,  the  very 
kernel  of  the  Gospel-nut,  "  In  all  these  things  we  are 
more  than  conquerors;"  he  boldly  throws  the  gauntlet  of 
faith  at  the  feet  of  all  powers  in  heaven  and  earth,  as 
impotent  to  separate  him  from  Christ ;  and  with  the  fullest 
assurance  of  final  salvation,  wherein  he  was  kept  to  the 
end,  (2  Tim.  i.  12,)  he  exclaims,  "  I  am  persuaded,  that 
neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor 
powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  height, 
nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate 
us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord."  Because  he  believed,  therefore  he  spoke.  His 
triumphant  joy,  and  the  ground  of  his  "  more  than  con- 
queror's" assurance  was  Christ,  and  Christ  alone.  Upon 
"  God  that  cannot  lie"  he  knew  himself  thrown  for  the 
hope  of  eternal  life,  (Tit.  i.  2.)     "  God  is  faithful"  was  his 


122  ST  PAUL. 

i  motto  for  himself  and  his  hrethren,  with  whom  he  was 
called  unto  the  fellowship  of  the  Son  of  God,  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord,  (1  Cor.  i.  9  ;  1  Thess.  v.  24.)  Because  he  lived 
through  grace  by  faith  in  Christ,  and  ever  continued  in 
holy  dread  lest  he  should  trespass  against  the  operation  of 
the  Spirit  by  applying  fragments  of  His  workmanship  to 
the  building  up  again  of  a  legal  righteousness,  (Gal.  ii. 
16-21 ;)  therefore  he  could  be  so  sure  of  his  salvation,  and 
free  of  all  doubt  to  be  "  without  blame  before  God  in  love," 
being  "accepted  in  the  Beloved,"  (Eph.  i.  3-7.)  Down- 
wards and  upwards  led  his  Christian  path  :  down  into  the 
deep,  where  the  penitential  psalms — these  songs,  not  of 
the  wicked,  but  of  the  pious — are  experienced ;  up  to  the 
height,  where  the  psalms  of  joy — the  songs  not  of  angels, 
but  of  the  just,  living  by  faith — resound.  Blessed  be  "  the 
man  of  faith,"  who  strengthens  his  brethren,  where  he 
mourns  in  the  deep,  where  he  joys  in  the  height ! 

"  In  my  heart,"  says  Luther,  "  reigns  and  shall  reign  this 
one  article  alone  :  faith  in  my  dear  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
who  of  all  my  spiritual  and  godly  thoughts,  that  ever  day 
or  night  I  may  have,  is  the  one  only  beginning,  middle, 
and  end.  And  yet  I  find,  that  of  the  breadth,  and  length, 
and  depth,  and  height  of  this  unbounded,  incomprehens- 
ible, and  infinite  wisdom,  I  scarcely  reach  a  very  weak 
and  mean  beginning,  and  can  hardly  bring  to  light  a  few 
small  crumbs  out  of  this  richest  and  all-precious  mine  of 
gold."  Therefore  Scripture  has  given  Hope  as  a  com- 
panion of  Faith,  stretching  forth  her  eye  to  that  which  is 
perfect  and  to  come,  (1  Cor.  xiii.  10.) 

**  Paul's  rock  of  faith  was  Christ  alone, 

A  trusty  shield  and  weapon, 

Who  helps  us  from  His  heav'nly  throne 

'Gainst  ev'ry  ill  may  happen. 

That  old  malicious  foe 

Intends  us  deadly  woe, 


THE  MAN  OF  FAITH.  123 

Arm'd  with  the  strength  of  hell. 
And  deepest  craft  as  well ; 
On  earth  is  not  his  equal. 

'  Of  our  own  strength  we  nothing  can. 

Straight  were  we  lost  for  ever ; 
But  for  us  fights  the  Son  of  man, 
By  God  sent  to  deliver. 
Ask  ye  who  this  may  be  ? 
Christ  Jesus  named  is  He, 
Of  Sabaoth  the  Lord, 
Sole  God  to  be  adored; 
'Tis  He  must  win  the  battle." 


VIII. 

THE  MAN  OF  HOPE. 

"And  for  an  helmet,  the  hope  of  salvation." — 1  Thess,  v.  8. 

Like  a  warrior  decorated  with  his  helmet,  which  shields 
his  head  from  the  stroke  of  his  adversary,  so  Paul  stands 
there  clad  in  rich  attire,  and  "rejoicing  in  hope  of  the 
glory  of  God,"  (Eom.  v.  2,)  by  which  he  is  armed  against 
every  *'no,"  wherewith  Satan  defies  ''the  armies  of  the 
living  God,"  and  wherewith  things  visible  and  temporal 
ever  seek  to  oppose  the  Christian,  or  to  withdraw  him 
from  the  promises  of  God.  Luther  used  to  call  the  hope 
of  faith  "man's  brave  heart,"  and  compares  the  indis- 
soluble pair  to  the  two  cherubim  upon  the  mercy-seat. 
*'  We  are  saved  by  hope,"  (Eom.  viii.  24,)  that  is,  by  faith 
in  hope.  Tlie  salvation  we  have  in  Christ  we  can  taste 
and  enjoy  on  earth  only  in  hope.  As  in  faith,  so  in  hope, 
Paul  "warred  a  good  warfare."  Pdght  fitly  he  is  es- 
cutcheoned  with  the  sword. 

As  his  preaching  and  life  of  faith,  so  his  joy  and  rejoic- 
ing in  hope  is  the  bright  reflex  of  his  heavenly  call,  a 
green  branch  out  of  the  root  of  experienced  grace.  Visibly 
did  the  glory  of  "  the  second  man,  the  Lord  from  heaven," 
(1  Cor.  XV.  47,)  "  shine  round  about  him."  But  as  on  the 
mount  of  Olives,  when  the  Lord,  "  while  they  beheld,"  w^as 
taken  up  to  heaven,  and  received  by  a  cloud  out  of  their 
sight,  the  disciples  saw  no  other  light  henceforth  than  that 
of  His  word,  illuminated  by  the  angel's  message,  (Acts 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  125 

i.  9-11 ;)  so  did  Paul,  over  his  baptism  in  the  house  of 
Judas  at  Damascus,  see  no  other  light  than  that  of  Christ's 
word  spoken  to  him  by  the  mouth  of  Ananias.  Thus  he 
was  prepared  to  testify  that  Jesus  Christ,  sitting  on  God's 
right  hand,  and  ''hid  in  God,"  (Col.  iii.  1-4,)  manifests 
Himself  on  earth  to  faith  in  His  word  and  sacrament,  that 
Hope,  with  the  eyes  of  Simeon,  beholding  his  Saviour 
through  the  babe's  swaddling-clothes,  might,  through  the 
imveiled  veils  of  the  visible  means  of  grace,  stretch  forth 
her  keen  eye  unto  the  heirship  of  eternal  life,  (Tit.  iii.  7.) 
As  his  blessed  Saviour,  "the  Lord  of  glory,"  (1  Cor.  ii.  8,) 
had  suffered  Himself  to  be  persecuted  in  His  poor  saints 
by  Saul,  so  Paul  was  prepared  for  a  life  of  tribulation ; 
but  as  his  heavenly  Master,  "for  the  joy  that  was  set 
before  Him,  endured  the  cross,"  (Heb.  xii.  2,)  so  Paul,  in 
hope's  anticipation  of  future  bliss  with  Christ,  "  reckoned 
the  sufferings  of  this  present  time  as  not  worthy  to  be 
compared  with  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed  in  us," 
(Eom.  viii.  18.)  On  the  other  hand,  his  confession  was, 
"  If  in  this  life  only  we  have  hope  in  Christ,  we  are  of  all 
men  most  miserable,"  (1  Cor.  xv.  19.)  Israel's  King  has 
"  endured  the  cross,  and  is  exalted  to  His  heavenly  throne, 
our  great  High  Priest  has  completed  the  sacrifice  of  Him- 
self," and  has  entered  into  His  heavenly  sanctuary ;  Israel's 
Prophet  has  "  preached  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  and  now 
makes  Himself  heard  through  His  Spirit  in  the  Church 
of  the  Spirit.  Hence  Paul  was  constrained  to  bear  witness 
of  Israel's  hope  of  glory,  as  already  fulfilled  in  CMst,  and 
which,  on  the  day  of  His  glorious  appearing,  will  be  ac- 
complished also  in  His  believing  people ;  while  the  fleshly, 
exanimate  Israel  is  stiU  pursuing  the  phantom  of  her  fore- 
shadowed glory.  (This  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  *)    "  Crucified  through  weakness," 

*  See  note,  p.  95.— Tr. 


126  ST  PAUL. 

— viz.,  "  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh," — Christ  now  ever 
"liveth  by  the  power  of  God,"  (2  Cor.  xiii.  4.)  Therefore 
Paul  set  all  things  that  "might  have  been  gain"  on 
"knowing  Him,  and  the  power  of  His  resurrection,  and 
the  fellowship  of  His  sufferings,  being  made  conformable 
unto  His  death ;  if  by  any  means  he  might  attain  unto  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead,"  (Phil.  iii.  10,  11.)  "As  sorrow- 
ful "  in  the  world  and  in  the  flesh,  "  yet  always  rejoicing," 
(2  Cor.  vi.  10,)  because  "rejoicing  in  hope;"  this  is  the 
Christian's  calling  and  enviable  lot,  (Eom.  xii.  12.) 

"Jesus  Christ  is  our  hope,"  he  writes  to  Timothy,  (1 
Tim.  i.  1,)  and  before  the  Colossians  he  unfolds  the  heavenly 
"riches  of  the  glory  of  this  mystery  among  the  Gentiles;" 
and  then,  gathering  all  its  treasure  into  a  golden  nutshell, 
he  extols  its  incalculable  value  to  them  in  these  words : 
"which  [mystery]  is  Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory," 
(Col.  i.  27.)  Everywhere  the  Apostle  manifests  his  glad- 
some confidence  that  the  Church  of  Christ,  though  hoping 
for  His  glorious  reappearing,  yet  enjoys  through  all  time 
His  gracious  presence  on  earth ;  for  He  has  said,  "  Lo,  I 
am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 
Tlierefore  he  hopes  for  no  future  glory  which  is  not  pledged 
and  sealed  to  believers  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ  dwelling  in 
them.  ''Where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is  liberty," 
(2  Cor.  iii.  17.)  Thus  we  are  freed  from  the  bondage  of 
corruption,  while  looking  for  the  glorious  liberty  of  the 
children  of  God ;  and  having  the  "  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit," 
we  wait  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption  of  our 
body,  (Eom.  viii.  21,  23,)  a  confession  of  hope  both  humble 
and  bold.  No  less  than  St  John  is  Paul  penetrated  with 
the  idea  of  the  present  reality  of  eternal  life  to  and  in 
Christ's  believing  people.  The  mind  of  them  both  is  ex- 
pressed in  these  words  (of  A.  H.  Francke  :) — 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  127 

"  Farewell,  what 's  called  day  and  year, 
Eternity  is  round  me  here  ; 
Because  I  live  in  Jesus." 

To  express  what  a  Christian  man  has  and  is  in  Christ, 
St  Paul  is  particularly  fond  of  the  words  "riches/'  "per- 
fection," "fulness."  Sevenfold  in  one  sentence  he  pours 
forth  his  praise  of  the  all-sufficient  and  all-abounding 
riches  of  God's  grace,  (2  Cor.  ix.  8.)  To  be  "  filled  with  all 
the  fulness  of  God,"  is  his  prayer  for  the  faithful  in  Christ 
Jesus  at  Ephesus,  (2  Cor.  iii.  19.)  To  "present  every  man 
perfect  in  Christ  Jesus,"  thereunto  he  laboured,  striving 
according  to  His  working,  which  worked  in  him  mightily, 
(Col.  i.  28,  29.)  But  as  humbly  as  St  John  confesses, 
"  Behold,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it  does  not  yet 
appear  what  we  shall  be,"  (1  John  iii.  2,)  does  he  feel 
reconciled  to  the  veiled  state  of  expectant  hope,  wherein 
the  life  and  salvation  of  believers  is  yet  hid ;  although  as 
ardent  in  anticipation  he  already  calls  them  "the  first- 
fruits  of  the  Spirit."  As  the  first  sheaves  of  the  harvest 
in  the  holy  land  were  offered  to  the  Lord  for  a  wave-offer- 
ing in  token  that  the  entire  harvest  was  due  to  Him  as  a 
thank-offering ;  so  we,  who  are  the  Israel  of  the  Gospel, 
go  on  boldly  waving  the  Spirit's  first-fruits  to  and  fro,  to 
all  ends  of  the  earth,  and  up  to  heaven,  when  we  sing  and 
say,  "  Here  all  sins  forgiven  are."  *  He  that  by  faith 
enjoys  and  confesses  this  *'  good  of  the  land,"  (Isa.  i.  19,) 
— to  wit,  of  the  Christian  Church, — possesses  in  this  one 
royal  gift  of  the  Spirit  the  entire  inheritance  of  promise  in 
hope;  and,  putting  under  foot  death  and  the  grave,  can 
triumphantly  exclaim,  "My  flesh  too  shall  live  again. 
This  life  past,  there  is  for  me  a  life  throughout  eternity. 
Amen." 

Is  Jesus  Christ  the  hope  of  believers  ?  then  all  God's 
*  Lofty  !  but  dark  to  me.— Tr. 


128  ST  PAUL. 

promises  in  Him  are  Yea  and  Amen, — "  unto  the  glory  of 
God  by  us,"  adds  the  Apostle,  (2  Cor.  i.  20.)     "  By  us  "— 
viz.,  by  the  evangelical  ministers  and  witnesses  of  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  (2  Cor.  v.  19.)     With  the  advent 
of  Christ  and  His  accomplished  work  of  redemption,  and 
His  coming  in  the  Spirit,  preaching  peace  to  far  and  nigh, 
(Eph.  ii.  17,)  the  last  time  of  the  history  of  salvation  has 
set  in,  which  continues  from  the  day  of  Pentecost  to  that 
of  the  Lord's  coming  again  in  glory.     "  The  ends  of  the 
world  are  come"  upon  us,  (1  Cor.  x.  11.)     In  the  last 
epoch  of  days  (wherewith  the  last  period  of  time,  and 
heaven's    kingdom   on    earth  began)   has  God   "spoken 
unto  us  by  His  Son,"  (Heb.  i.  2,)  whom  He  sent  forth, 
when  the  fulness  of  the  time  was  come,  (Gal.  iv.  4.)     Thus 
the  Apostle  views  the  historical  progress  of  God's  kingdom 
in  the  world,   and  finds  Israel's  fundamental  hope,  that 
Abraham  ''  should  be  the  heir  of  the  world,"  (Eom.  iv.  13,) 
unfolded  by  the  prophetic  word,  and  completely  fulfilled 
in  Him  who  is  of  Abraham's  seed — viz.,  in  the  One  who 
is  the  first-born  among  many  brethren,  (Eom.  viii.  29 ;  Gal. 
iii.  29.)     Living  then,  as  he  did,  at  dawn  of  the  evangelical 
day,  Paul  anticipated  with  joyous  hope  the  approach  of 
noontide,  at  which  the  glory  of  the  Son  of  man  would 
shine  into,  and  illuminate,  as  by  flashes  of  lightning,  the 
world's  midnight  darkness.     He  was  glad  when  a  year,  and 
again  another,  had  passed  of  the  Church's  time  of  suffering, 
which  himself  helped  to  shorten  by  the  fiUing-up  measure 
of  his  own,  (Col.  i.  24.)     Upon  the  nearly  twenty  years 
which  lay  between  his  conversion  and  departure  from  Co- 
rinth he  looked  back,  not  tired  of  his  labour  and  sufferings, 
but  with  growing  joy  of  the  now  nearer  approached  salva- 
tion, (Eom.  xiii.  11.)     We  must  not  think  that  at  one  time 
(1  Thess.  iv.  15-17)  he  expected  to  live  till  the  Lord's  re- 
turn, and  that  at  another  (2  Thess.  ii.)  he  had  relinquished 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  129 

this  hope.     He  ever  felt  the  last  day  as  so  near  that  he  did 
not  put  it  off  to  any  measured  distance,  by  reckoning  years 
and  days  which  would  have  to  elapse,  or   events  which 
would  have  to  come  to  pass,  before  the  end  should  come. 
With  joyous  longing,  mixed  with  holy  dread,  he  was  him- 
self prepared  for  the  Lord's  coming ;  and  also  strengthened 
the  expectations  of  the  faithful  in  what  they  knew  perfectly 
well — "  that  the  day  of  the  Lord  would  so  come  as  a  thief  in 
the  night,"  (1  Thess.  v.  1,  &c.)   With  a  ''Maran-atha"— '^  the 
Lord  cometh  " — he  greets  the  lukewarm  at  Corinth,  (1  Cor. 
xvi.  22 ;)  and  woe  to  him  who  should  have  returned  this 
greeting  with  a  confident  "  Not  yet."   A  short  while  after  his 
First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  where,  "  by  the  word  of 
the  Lord,"  he  gives  expression  to  the  blessed  hope  of  the 
dead,  by  saying  that  "  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  unto 
the  coming  of  the  Lord  shall  not  prevent  them  which  are 
asleep" — (mark  well,  in  this  he  speaks  the  mind  of  all 
Christians  that  are  ''at  home  in  the  body,"  now  as  well  as 
then,  who,  beside  the  graves  of  their  loved  ones  "■  which  are 
asleep,"  have  to  take  it  for  their  comfort,  until  such  ''we" 
be  ended  in  the  last-born  children  of  Christ's  Church) — 
shortly  after  this  consolatory  epistle,  Paul  wrote  his  second 
to  the  Thessalonians.   He  had  heard  that  certain  spirituaKsts 
had  subtilised  his  doctrine  of  the  Lord's  advent,  and  of  the 
gathering  of  the  faithful  unto  Him,  into  the  saying  that 
"  the  day  of  Christ  is  already  at  hand,"  (2  Thess.  ii.  2 ;) 
similarly  as  afterwards  Hymenseus  and  Philetus  converted 
his  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh  into  the  frivol- 
ous saying  that  "  the  resurrection  is  past  already,"  (2  Tim. 
ii.  18.)     This  (2  Thess.  ii.  2)  had  terrified  the  young  Chris- 
tians at  Thessalonica.    Therefore  the  Apostle  comforts  them 
with  the  assurance  that  their  gathering  together  unto  Christ 
was  but  an  earnest  of  the  brightness  of  His  coming ;  that 
then  the  days  of  their  sufferings  would  be  ended.     But  he 

I 


130  ST  PAUL. 

reminds  them  also  of  what  he  had  told  them  from  the  be- 
mnnmir,  that  the  fall  of  the  unbelieviiify  Jews  was  but  the 
prelude  to  the  falling  away  in  the  midst  of  the  Church, 
which  would  come  when  "  he  who  now  letteth  "  and  "  will 
let"  (tlie  authorities  ordained  by  God)  should  be  taken  out 
of  the  way,  and  he  "who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself 
above  all  that  is  called  God  " — i.e.,  antichrist  clad  in  worldly 
power  under  spiritual  show — should  "  sit  in  the  temple  of 
God."  This  "  man  of  sin,"  the  "  son  of  perdition,"  in  whom, 
as  its  head,  the  mystery  of  iniquity  becomes  concentrated, 
will  develop  itself  in  opposition  to  the  true  Church,  whose 
head  is  Christ — hardly,  therefore,  in  a  single  individual, 
but  in  a  succession  of  bearers  of  the  antichristian  spirit — 
"whom  the  Lord  shall  consume  with  the  spirit  of  His 
mouth,  and  shall  destroy  with  the  brightness  of  His 
coming,"  (2  Thess.  ii.  1-8.)  How  then  ?  did  the  prophetic 
certainty,  that  before  the  day  of  Christ's  coming  antichrist 
must  be  revealed,  hinder  Paul  from  living  in  such  nearness 
of  the  last  day,  that,  if  it  pleased  God,  he  might  greet  its 
appearance  on  this  side  the  grave  ?  By  no  means.  If  so, 
he  would  have  recalled  in  the  second  what  he  had  written 
in  the  first  epistle.  Floating  before  his  hopeful  eyes  he 
beheld  the  call  of  all  nations  by  the  Gospel,  (Eom.  x.  18,) 
himself  cheerfully  running  his  course  as  a  Gospel  minister, 
"  to  fulfil  the  word  of  God,"  (Col.  i.  25  ;)  the  net  was  filling 
with  fishes,  and  daily  he  saw  the  end  draw  nearer,  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel  for  a  witness  unto  all  nations, 
(Matt.  xxiv.  14 ;  Col.  i.  6,  23.)  He  dared  not  to  measure 
the  days,  neither  those  of  the  Lord's  patience  before  the 
day  of  His  wrath,  nor  those  of  the  Church's  suffering  before 
that  of  her  deliverance ;  but  of  this  he  always  was  sure, 
that  the  hope  laid  up  for  believers  in  heaven  (Col.  i.  5)  suf- 
fered no  delay  by  unfulfilled  prophecies,  for  either  they 
had  received,  or  were  constantly  now  receiving,  their  fulfil- 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  131 

ment  in  the  Gospel.  Whether  antichrist  be  revealed  at 
Jerusalem,  or  Eome,  or  Thessalonica,  or  any  other  place,  he 
certainly  must  be  revealed  ''in  the  temple  of  God,"  which 
Paul  was  building  up  by  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel.  It 
was  not  surely  against  far-off  enemies,  but  very  near  pre- 
sent ones,  that  he  called  his  brethren  to  arms,  putting  on 
the  breastplate  of  faith,  and  for  an  helmet  the  hope  of  sal- 
vation, (1  Thess.  V.  8 ;  Eph.  vi.  10,  &c.) 

But  must  not  the  fall  of  the  Jewish  nation,  and  their 
promised  final  salvation,  defer  the  coming  of  the  Lord  in 
His  glory  ?     Those  that  make  Paul  wait  for  a  general  con- 
version of  the  Jews,  in  a  far  distant  time,  do  not  in  truth 
comprehend  his  hope  of  the  last  day  being  near.     But 
Eomans  xi.  teaches  the  contrary,  if  otherwise  we  under- 
stand, in  some  measure,  the  mystery  of  the  hope  of  Israel 
in  connexion  with  the  whole  apostolic  doctrine,  and  in  the 
light  of  the  prophetic  word.*    It  is  in  the  Gospel  Church  of 
Christ,  the  heiress  to  Israel's  promise,  that  Paul  sees  the 
broken-off  branches  of  the  olive-tree  strike  leaves  again 
and  bear  fruit.    Those  of  Israel  who  are  not  Israel,  because 
forsaking  their   stem,  "the   root  of  Jesse"   promised  to 
their  fathers,  (Isa.  i.  1,  10,)  they  are  not  partakers  of  the 
root    and    fatness   of    the    good    olive-tree — are    broken 
off.     But,  lo  !  their  faU.  is  the  riches  of  the  Gentiles ;  theii- 
casting  a>vay  the  reconciling  of  the  world.     The  graftng  in 
of  the  wild  branches  into  the  good  olive  tree — the  rearing 
and  growth  of  the  Gentile  Church — is  brought  about  more 
speedily  than  the  Apostle  had  thought,  when  stiU  bent  on 
winning  the  Jews,  in  order  to  prepare  them  for  becoming 
the  missionary  nation  of  the  world.     N'evertheless,  God  has 

*  We  can  here  find  space  only  to  some  lines  of  the  picture  he  has  drawn 
in  that  chapter.  In  my  "  Bible  Lessons  "  on  the  Romans  I  have  attempted 
to  elucidate  more  at  large  the  meaning  and  bearing  of  that  much-disputed 
question. 


132  ST  PAUL. 

thoughts  of  mercy  even  over  the  broken-off  branches.  Was 
not  Paul  himself  one  of  them  ?  and  has  not  God  shewed  in 
him  that  He  is  indeed  able  to  graff  them  in  again  ?  Yea, 
and  in  raising  up  this  shoot  of  Benjamin  to  be  a  chosen 
vessel  of  Christ,  the  King  of  Israel,  has  He  not  shewn  that 
"  His  gifts  and  calling  are  without  repentance  ? "  For  has 
not  this  Israelite's  calling  brought  "  life  from  the  dead  "  to 
the  world,  which  he  visited  with  the  word  of  reconciliation 
when  cast  out  from  Jerusalem?  Therefore,  it  well  be- 
seemed him  to  hope  that  the  growth  ^nd  extension  of  the 
good  olive-tree,  planted  for  the  life  of  the  world,  would  be 
incalculably  promoted  by  the  re-acceptance  and  re-grafifing 
into  it  of  his  own  brethren.  Though  the  fulfilment  of  this 
hope  remained  far  behind  Paul's  ardent  wishes,  yet  did  he 
not  therefore  mistake  the  power  of  God,  who,  in  face  of  the 
unbelieving  mass,  continues  His  goodness  to  them  that 
abide  not  in  unbelief;  "they  shall  be  graffed  in ;  for  God 
is  able  to  graff  them  in  again."  But  this  He  will  do  in  the 
order  of  His  grace,  which,  through  the  faU  of  the  Jews,  the 
outward  historical  people  of  Israel,  has  taken  this  turn, 
that  the  fallen  ones  are  to  be  provoked  to  jealousy  by  the 
Gentiles  being  brought  into  the  salvation  of  Israel.  It  is 
not  God's  will  that  they  should  remain  lying  on  the  ground ; 
therefore  He  follows  them  with  wonders  and  signs  of  His 
wrath,  but  a  wrath  in  which  He  remembers  mercy.  Into 
no  tree  of  any  other  nationality  shall  the  broken-off  branches 
from  Israel's  own  be  graffed  ;  but  rather  Moses'  curse  and 
our  Saviour's  word,  "  This  generation  shall  not  pass  away 
tiU  all  be  fulfilled,"  (Luke  xxi.  32,)  is  to  bear  them  distinct 
from  other  nations  through  all  generations  to  the  end,  in 
order  that  their  forlorn  condition  as  broken-off  branches 
may  constantly  remind  them  of  their  faithlessness  to  "  the 
root  of  Jesse,"  '^  which  shall  stand  for  an  ensign  of  the 
people,"  and  to  which  the  Gentiles  shall  seek,  (Isa.  xi.  1 0.) 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  133 

And  so  long  as  the  graffing  of  Gentile  branches  into  the  olive- 
tree  of  the  Gospel  Church  lasts,  so  long  also  the  graffing  in 
again  of  Jewish  branches  into  their  own  olive-tree  shall  con- 
tinue. This  is  Paul's  hope.  "  Blindness  in  part  is  happened 
to  Israel.''  Among  the  whole  mass  hardened  in  unbelief 
"there  is  a  remnant  according  to  the  election  of  grace," 
whose  graffing  in  again  will  fill  up  the  number  of  the  saved, 
and  constitute  the  fulness  of  the  won  ones  of  Israel. 
"  Until  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  be  come  in,"  God  will 
not  cease  to  call  and  draw  the  cast-off  ''children  of  the 
kingdom  "  by  the  voice  of  their  national  home,  that  He  may 
woo  them  back  to  His  people,  which  He  hath  not  cast  off, 
but  hath  kept  all  His  promises  with  them  in  Christ  Jesus, 
the  seed  of  Abraham.  "  And  so,"  (Eom.  xi.  26,)  not  other- 
wise,— not  as  the  Jews,  proud  of  their  fleshly  descent  fancy, 
— "  all  Israel  shall  be  saved  ;"  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles, 
together  with  that  of  the  returned  Jews ;  the  entire  fulness 
of  the  true  Israel,  all  branches  found  in  the  olive-tree  by 
faith,  as  well  the  new  graffed  as  the  old  ones  graffed  in 
again.  Such  hope,  grounded  in  the  mystery  of  Christ  and 
His  Church,  Paul  finds  confirmed  by  the  prophetic  word  : 
*'As  it  is  written,  There  shall  come  out  of  Sion  the  De- 
liverer, and  shall  turn  away  ungodliness  from  Jacob.  For 
this  is  my  covenant  with  them,  when  I  shall  take  away  their 
sins."  From  two  prophetic  passages,  (Isa.  lix.  20,  xxviii. 
9,)  and  two  prophetic  psalm  words.  (Ps.  xiv.  7,  ex.  2,)  the 
Apostle  collects  his  Scripture  proof,  that  out  of  the  Gospel 
Church,  as  Zion's  legitimate  daughter,  the  Deliverer  comes, 
arrayed  with  Gentile  sons  and  daughters,  whom  He  hath 
washed  and  sanctified  in  His  blood,  to  provoke  them  who 
"  by  nature  "  are  Israel,  or  Jacob,  to  vie  with  these  in  com- 
ing to  the  marriage  of  their  liege  Lord ;  and  so  aU  Israel  be 
saved.  God's  '' new  covenant  "  in  Christ  ''with  the  house 
of  Israel "  is  :  "I  will  forgive  their  iniquity,  and  remember 


134  ST  PAUL. 

their  sins  no  more,"  (Jer.  xxxi.  31-34;)  and  the  word 
"Avhen"  (Rom.  xi.  27) — when  I  shall  take  away  their  sins 
— does  not  certainly  point  to  a  far  distant  time,  that  shall 
not  begin  *' until  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  be  come 
in  :"  but  rather  through  the  whole  time  of  the  New  Cove- 
nant the  testament  is  in  force,  which  was  opened,  when  the 
seed  came,  to  whom  the  promise  was  made,  (Gal.  iii.  19 ;) 
and  so  long,  till  the  Deliverer  be  come  to  the  last  child  of 
the  Gentiles,  will  He  also  continue  to  come  to  Israel  after 
the  flesli,  which  hath  wrested  the  testament  of  grace  by 
works,  that  He  may  ''  turn  away  ungodliness  from  Jacob." 
Did  not  Paul's  own  experience  testify  to  the  fulfilment  of 
this  prophetic  word  ?  Therefore  his  hope  for  Israel  rested 
on  the  ground  that  "  the  gifts  and  calling  of  God  are  with- 
out repentance."  Out  of  Zion,  built  up  at  Damascus,  did 
the  Deliverer  come  to  him,  turning  away  from  this  son  of 
Jacob,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  the  ungodliness  which  had 
shut  him  out  from  Israel's  glorious  hope ;  and  being  washed 
from  his  sins  by  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant,  he 
staked  his  life  on  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles  into  the 
tents  of  Zion ;  yet  not  to  bring  them  alone  into  Jerusalem's 
prosperity,  but  also  to  see  the  crown  of  his  hope  bloom  upon 
the  head  of  Zion's  King  and  His  chosen  people,  and  so  all 
Israel  be  saved.  The  "  lastlings  "  will  be  saved  no  other- 
wise than  the  "  firstlings."  The  mystery  of  the  hope  of 
Israel  is  a  mystery  of  grace  and  of  faith,  and  like  all  mys- 
teries of  God  *' without  controversy  great"  in  the  Church. 
As  the  progressive  development  of  God's  kingdom  to 
the  end  of  time,  so  likewise  the  future  glory  of  it  presents 
itself  to  Paul's  hope,  as  resulting  from  the  grace  of  which 
aU  believers  have  become  partakers  in  Jesus  Christ. 
Those  that  have  "  the  testimony  of  Christ  confirmed  "  in 
them  "come  behind  in  no  gift,"  but  "are  enriched  by 
Him"  in  everything,  while  "waiting  for  the   coming  of 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  135 

our  Lord  Jesus  Christ/'  (1  Cor.  i.  4-7.)  Quite  in  Paul's 
sense  says  Augustine,  ''  Ask  no  man  for  it,  turn  to  tliine 
own  heart ;  already  art  thou  placed  at  God's  right  hand. 
Do  not  mind  thy  glory  being  hidden;  when  the  Lord 
Cometh,  thou  shalt  appear  with  Him  in  glory.  The  root 
liveth,  though  the  branch  appear  withered ;  inwardly,  in 
the  living  marrow,  is  already  the  strength  of  the  leaves 
and  fruit,  but  they  wait  for  the  summer."  What  in  rever- 
sion is  given  unto  us  in  Christ  Jesus,  the  Crucified  and 
Eisen  again,  "  God  hath  revealed  unto  us  by  His  Spirit," 
(1  Cor.  ii.  9,  &c.,)  that  with  enlightened  eyes  of  our  un- 
derstanding we  may  know  what  is  the  hope  of  His  calling, 
and  what  the  riches  of  the  glory  of  His  inheritance  in  the 
saints,  and  what  is  tlie  exceeding  greatness  of  His  power 
to  us- ward  who  believe.  From  the  believer's  "  I  am  " 
Christ's  by  faith,  hope  draws  her  "  I  shall  he "  glorified 
with  Him.  The  Christian,  in  whose  heart  God  hath 
shined,  sees  "the  light  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ,"  (2  Cor.  iv.  6.)  In  Him  we  are  ''  sealed  with 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise,  which  is  the  earnest  of  our 
inheritance  until  the  redemption  of  the  purchased  posses- 
sion, unto  the  praise  of  His  glory,"  (Eph.  i.  13, 14.)  ''  Xow 
we  see  through  a  glass,  darkly ;  but  then  face  to  face  :  now 
I  know  in  part ;  but  then  shall  I  know,  even  as  also  I  am 
known,"  (1  Cor.  xiii.  12.)  The  heavenly  blessings,  where- 
with we  are  blessed  in  Christ,  we  cannot  now  see  but 
*'  through  a  glass,"  conveying  a  reflection  of  them  to  us 
clad  in  the  form  of  ''human  speech,"  (Eom.  vi.  19.) 
"Darklj^,"  (more  literally,  '*in  enigmas,")  we  read  of  them 
in  God's  Word,  yet  plainly  enough,  yea,  in  our  present 
state  only  thereby  clear,  that  it  speaks  to  us  in  pictures 
and  signs,  wherewith  the  Holy  Ghost  represents  the  incar- 
nation and  humanity  of  the  Son  of  God.  When  we  shall 
behold  Him,  the  glorified  Son  of  man,  face  to  face,  then 


136  ST  PAUL. 

shall  cease  the  reflection  of  His  grace  and  truth  in  human 
speech ;  which  is  like  a  cloud  in  sunshine,  full  of  light  on 
the  other  side,  yet  throwing  shade  on  us  below.  "  Done 
away"  shall  be  "that  which  is  in  part,"  our  present  know- 
ing in  part,  wherein  we  possess  the  truth  only  by  bring- 
ing into  captivity  our  reason  to  the  obedience  of  Christ, 
whereby  every  enigma  of  apparent  contradiction  in  Chris- 
tian doctrine  is  solved,  or  rather  submitted  to  by  faith, 
because  it  has  with  it  the  hope  of  one  day  beholding,  as  it 
were,  in  a  perfect  panorama,  the  harmonious  solution  of 
the  whole.  As  we  were  known  of  God,  when  in  Christ 
He  drew  us  to  Himself,  and  received  us  into  the  blessed 
fellowship  of  His  love,  so  we  shall  also  know  Him  with 
the  clear  eyes  of  love,  when,  ''  conformed  to  the  image  of 
His  Son,"  (Eom.  viii.  29,)  we  shall  stand  at  His  right 
hand.  Here  the  Holy  Ghost,  through  the  word  of  faith, 
begets  and  nourishes  the  new  man,  there  only  he  comes  to 
perfection,  "  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fulness 
of  Christ,"  (Eph.  iv.  13.)  Eaith  makes  of  children  men 
that  are  not  tossed  to  and  fro  with  every  wind  of  doctrine ; 
but  hope  points  to  a  manhood  compared  to  which  Paul 
himself  was  but  a  lisping  child  :  "  Wlien  I  was  a  child,  I 
spake  as  a  child,  I  understood  as  a  child,  I  thought  as  a 
child;  but  when  I  became  a  man,  I  put  away  childish 
things,"  (1  Cor.  xiii.  11.)  Together  with  Christian  know- 
ledge the  Christian  will  also  reaches  forth  to  perfection  in 
hope.  Paul  could  do  all  things  through  Christ  strengthen- 
ing him,  (Phil.  iv.  13;)  yet  could  he  do  so  only  in  hot 
warfare  against  the  sin  in  his  flesh,  which  lay  encamped 
between  will  and  deed,  and  stamped  its  Adamite  seal  upon 
all  the  thoughts,  words,  and  works  of  his  inner  man. 
Even  there,  where  he  shines  forth  in  the  perfect  righteous- 
ness of  Christ  by  faith,  (Phil.  iii.  9,)  he  also  expresses  his 
ardent  longing  after  perfection  in  the  blessed  kingdom  of 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  137 

his  risen  Eedeemer,  and  then  continues  :  "  Not  as  though 
I  had  abeady  attained,  either  were  already  perfect ;  but  I 
follow  after,  if  that  I  may  apprehend  that,  for  which  also 
I  am  apprehended  of  Christ  Jesus."  Yea,  right  brotherly 
he  takes  his  beloved  Philippians  by  the  hand,  and,  putting 
himself  with  them  in  rank  and  file  of  the  Christian  race, 
he  says,  "Brethren,  I  count  not  myseK  to  have  appre- 
hended :  but  this  one  thing  I  do,  forgetting  those  things 
which  are  behind,  and  reaching  forth  unto  those  things 
which  are  before,  I  press  toward  the  mark  for  the  prize  of 
the  high  calling  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (Phil.  iii.  12-14.) 
"I  shall  win  it,  what's  the  wager?"  was  the  holy 
challenge  of  his  faith  to  his  hope.  In  the  same  way  he 
represents  himself  to  the  Corinthians  as  a  holy  racer,  who 
stakes  all  on  winning  the  crown,  (1  Cor.  ix.  24-27.)  Al- 
together he  is  very  fond  of  viewing  his  whole  life  as  a  great 
spiritual  warfare,  (2  Cor.  x.  2-5.)  "Enduring  hardness, 
as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  Christ,"  he  always  lies  in  the 
field  straining  every  nerve  to  gain  the  prize,  which  is  eter- 
nal life,  purchased  by  Christ's  blood,  given  out  of  pure 
grace  to  faith,  and  laid  hold  of  for  their  honour,  glory,  and 
immortality,  by  those  who,  by  patient  continuance  in  well- 
doing, seek  for  such  end  of  their  hope,  (Eom.  ii.  7.) 
"  right  the  good  fight  of  faith,"  he  exhorts  his  Timothy, 
"  lay  hold  on  eternal  life,  whereunto  thou  art  also  called, 
and  hast  professed  a  good  profession  before  many  wit- 
nesses," (1  Tim.  vi.  12.)  Coupled  with  his  unshaken  cer- 
tainty of  salvation  is  the  holy  fear  of  a  man  in  Christ,  who 
cannot  earn,  but  may  lose  his  salvation,  and  be  finally  "  a 
castaway,"  (1  Cor.  ix.  27.)  "Cast  not  away  your  con- 
fidence," we  hear  him  say  to  those  whose  hope,  as  an 
Anchor  of  the  soul,  both  sure  and  steadfast,  (Heb.  vi.  19,) 
was  in  danger  of  being  thrown  away  on  earthly  things. 
To  escape  this  danger,  and  keep  it  centred  in  Jesus,  who 


138  ST  PAUL. 

ascended  up  to  heaven,  he  thus  encourages  and  exhorts 
them :  "  Cast  not  away  therefore  your  confidence,  which 
hath  great  recompence  of  reward.  For  ye  have  need  of 
patience,  that,  after  ye  have  done  the  will  of  God,  ye 
might  receive  the  promise.  For  yet  a  little  w^hile,  and  He 
that  shall  come  will  come,  and  will  not  tarry.  Now,  the 
just  shall  live  by  faith :  but  if  any  man  draw  back,  my 
soul  shall  have  no  pleasure  in  him,  saith  the  Lord.  But 
we  are  not  of  them  who  draw  back  unto  perdition ;  but  of 
them  that  believe  to  the  saving  of  the  soul,"  (Heb.  x.  35- 
39.)  Christ  certainly  refreshes  His  faithful  followers  with 
joy  and  peace  already  in  this  life,  and  we  have  seen  Paul's 
heart  abound  in  Christian  joy.  Still,  every  blessing  he 
enjoyed  in  faith  was  only  a  foretaste  to  him  of  the  heavenly 
joy  his  ardent  soul  anticipated  in  hope  :  ''To  me  to  live  is 
Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain,"  he  writes  in  that  letter  of  joy 
and  love  to  the  Philippians.  "I  am  in  a  strait  betwixt 
two,  having  a  desire  to  depart,  and  to  be  with  Christ, 
which  is  far  better,"  (Phil.  i.  21,  &c.)  The  longer  he  lived 
in  "this  tabernacle,"  the  more  ardent  became  his  desire 
"to  be  absent  from  the  body,  and  to  be  present  with  the 
Lord,"  (2  Cor.  v.  1-8.)  To  the  Eomans,  where  he  most 
extols  the  treasure  of  a  life  by  faith,  he  couches  his  last 
wishes  and  blessings  in  these  words  :  "  Now,  the  God  of 
peace  fill  you  with  all  joy  and  peace  in  believing,  that  ye 
may  abound  in  hope  through  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  (Eom.  xv.  13.)  Not  less  firmly  and  constantly 
than  Peter,  whom  the  Church  of  old  has  designated  as 
"the  man  of  hope,"  does  Paul  keep  his  eye  fixed  on  the 
heavenly  inheritance,  and  on  that  day  in  which,  at  the 
glorious  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ,  whom  his  soul  loveth, 
the  believer  will  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable,  and  full  of 
glory,  (1  Pet.  i.  3-9.) 

"  Plesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God," 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  139 

(1  Cor.  XV.  50,)  and  yet  the  heirs  of  the  kingdom  are  men 
having  flesh  and  blood.  Far  from  depreciating  the  body, 
(Col.  ii.  23,)  which  rather  he  designates  as  "  the  temple  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,"  (1  Cor.  vi.l9,)  Paul  felt  the  more  grievously 
its  fleshly  and  death-doomed  condition,  and  therefor^ 
groaned  under  its  burden,  (2  Cor.  v.  4.)  But  he  also  com- 
forted himself  with  the  hope  he  had  for  his  mortal  body 
in  Christ's  own,  the  Risen  One,  whom  he  had  beheld  in 
heavenly  glory.  "  For  we  are  members  of  His  body,  of 
His  flesh,  and  of  His  bones,"  (Eph.  v.  30,)  he  says  of  the 
Church,  which  Christ,  by  His  word  and  sacrament,  sancti- 
fieth,  cleanseth,  nourisheth,  and  cherisheth,  "that  it  should 
be  holy  and  without  blemish."  He  views  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  in  believers  as  an  earnest  also  of  the  life  of  their 
mortal  bodies,  (Rom.  viii.  11,)  and  therefore  waits  for  the 
complete  adoption,  (ib.  ver.  23,)  when  God  shall  recognise 
as  His  dear  children  the  brethren  of  "  the  first-born  from 
the  dead,"  (Col.  i.  18;)  for  ''the  Saviour  of  the  body,"  (Eph. 
V.  23,)  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  "  shall  change  our  vile  body, 
that  it  may  be  fashioned  like  unto  His  glorious  body, 
according  to  the  working,  whereby  He  is  able  to  subdue 
all  things  unto  Himself,"  (Phil.  iii.  21.)  For  redemption, 
not  from,  but  of  the  body  Paul  hopes.  His  arduous  con- 
flict in  the  mortal  body  did  indeed  extort  from  him  the 
doleful  exclamation :  "0  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who 
shall  deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death  ? "  But  in 
the  triumphant  chapter  that  follows  it  the  hope  breaks 
forth,  that  even  this  mortal  body  shall  also  be  delivered  from 
the  bondage  of  corruption.  "  The  resurrection  of  the  flesh" 
was,  indeed,  an  article  of  most  solemn  importance  with  the 
Apostle.  The  naked  "immortality  of  the  soul"  never 
was  any  object  of  his  hope.  Though  death  he  deemed 
gain,  because  to  die  in  the  service  of  Christ,  and  for  His 
name,  was  joy  and  honour  to  him ;   yet  it  was  not  to  be 


140  ST  PAUL. 

'*  unclotlied,"  but  "  clothed  upon,"  that  he  longed  for, 
(2  Cor.  V.  1,  &c.)  With  confident  hope  he  looked  for- 
ward to  the  dissolution  of  ''the  earthly  house  of  this 
tabernacle ; "  for  of  the  "  eternal  house  " — the  future  risen 
body — he  could  say,  "We  have  a  building  of  God,  an 
house  not  made  with  hands,"  because  this  ''building"  and 
"  house "  is  pledged  to  the  believer  in  the  body  of  his 
risen  Head  and  Saviour  in  heaven,  to  whom  His  members 
will  and  must  be  joined.  Yet  the  monster  Death  was  an 
object  of  horror  to  him;  not  that  he  dreaded  its  terrors, — 
them  he  had  conquered  through  faith  in  Christ's  death 
and  victorious  rising  again, — but  he  shuddered  at  the  last 
enemy's  ruthless  onslaught  on  Christ's  members,  clad  as 
they  are  in  their  Saviour's  righteousness  and  life.  His 
was  that  groaning  over  death  to  which  Jesus  was  moved 
on  proceeding  to  Lazarus's  grave,  (John  xi.  33-38.)  It 
was  the  mournful  reflection  of  the  grim  tyrant's  mur- 
derous right  over  man  created  in  God's  image,  and 
redeemed  through  Christ's  blood.  Fain  would  he  have 
seen  "  the  last  enemy "  robbed  of  his  prey.  "  For  in 
this,"  he  says,  "  we  groan,  earnestly  desiring  to  be  clothed 
upon  with  our  house  which  is  from  heaven.  For  we  that 
are  in  this  tabernacle  do  groan  being  burdened ;  not  for 
that  we  would  be  unclothed,  but  clothed  upon,  that  mor- 
tality might  be  swallowed  up  in  life," — swallowed  up  as 
the  sun  consumes  the  fog, — so  that  in  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye  this  corruptible  may  be  "  changed  into  incorruptible, 
and  this  mortal  into  immortality,"  (1  Cor.  xv.  51,  &c. ; 
1  Thess.  iv.  17.)  Yet,  if  it  must  be  so,  Paul  also  is  resigned 
to  pass,  through  bitter  death,  from  his  earthly  pilgrimage 
to  his  heavenly  home  with  the  Lord,  where  faith  shall 
cease,  and  hope  be  lost  in  sight.  "  For  our  light  affliction, 
which  is  but  for  a  moment,"  was  his  challenge  just  before 
(2  Cor.  iv.  17, 18)  to  the  murderer  and  destroyer,  "  worketh 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  141 

for  us  " — by  trying  the  Christian  faith,  and  putting  to  test 
his  hope — "a  far  more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of 
glory ;  while  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen, 
hut  at  those  which  are  not  seen  ;  for  the  things  which  are 
seen  are  temporal,  but  the  things  which  are  not  seen  are 
eternal."  The  eye  of  faith,  called  hope,  will  be  rewarded 
— in  yonder  blessed  sight — with  an  eternal  weight  of  glory, 
for  having  "looked"  at  things  which  are  not  seen,  which 
is  folly  to  sense  and  reason,  (Heb.  xi.  27.)  And  what 
makes  to  us  the  invisible  so  incontestably  sure,  in  a  world 
so  strangely  the  opposite  to  all  our  hope ?  "He  that 
wrought  us  for  the  self-same  thing  is  God,  who  also  hath 
given  unto  us  the  earnest  of  the  Spirit,"  (2  Cor.  v.  5.) 

The  celebrated  chapter,  wherein  Paul  most  joyfully 
confesses  his  hope  of  a  glorious  resurrection,  (1  Cor.  xv.,) 
we  have  abeady  adverted  to ;  but  let  us  have  the  pleasure 
of  expatiating  upon  it  more  fully.  By  him  also,  as  "the 
least  of  the  apostles,"  the  risen  Saviour  hath  been  seen, 
and  though  ''last  of  all,"  yet,  by  the  grace  of  God,  he 
became  the  foremost  in  preaching  His  Gospel.  "N'ow,  if 
Christ  be  preached,  that  He  rose  from  the  dead,  how  say 
some  among  you  that  there  is  no  resurrection  of  the  dead  ?" 
Who  will  dare  to  tear  asunder  the  Head  and  His  members? 
Those  wiseacres  who  think  it  folly  to  believe  in  a  resur- 
rection of  the  dead,  must  also  have  the  courage  to  deny 
that  Christ  rose  from  the  dead.  But  if  Christ  be  not 
risen,  then  all  Christian  faith  is  vain,  and  all  evangelical 
preaching  is  a  worthless  thing;  then  the  apostles  are  "false 
witnesses,"  sin  is  unatoned,  "  they  also  which  are  fallen 
asleep  in  Christ  are  perished,"  being  slain  by  unconquered 
death,  and  those  that  have  been  deceived  into  devoting 
their  life  to  a  dead  Christ  are  worse  off  than  those  who 
have  adorned  theirs  with  "elysian  flowers,"  or  dwelt  in 
"amaranthine  bowers."     "But  now — 0  blessed  now/ — is 


142  ST  PAUL. 

Christ  risen  from  the  dead,  and  become  the  first-fruits  of 
them  that  slept.'*  In  the  word  "first-fruits"  lies  the 
Christian's  anchor  of  hope.  Paul  loves,  as  we  have  seen 
by  a  glance  at  Eomans  v.,  to  place  Adam  and  Christ  in 
counter-position  ;  Adam  the  sad  beginner  of  a  mortal  race, 
Christ  the  triumphant  restorer  of  a  new  and  immortal  race. 
And  as  there  he  does  it  in  praise  of  the  universal  grace  of 
life,  which  exults  in  the  universal  judgment  over  death,  so 
also  here.  The  universal  defeat  of  mankind  in  Adam  he 
sees  reversed  by  the  universal  victory  in  Christ.  The  per- 
verse talk  of  a  "universal restoration"  (apocatastasis,)  fain 
hoped  for  by  some,  has,  like  all  erroneous  doctrine,  laid 
the  esfff  of  error  into  the  nest  of  truth.  Death's  universal 
reign  by  Adam's  transgression  has,  indeed,  been  broken 
and  conquered  for  all  by  Christ's  victory  over  it  in  rising 
from  the  dead,  and  becoming  "  the  first-fruits  of  them  that 
slept ; "  but  like  "  as  in  Adam  all  die,"  because,  born  of  the 
flesh,  they  are  partakers  of  Adam's  nature,  "  so  in  Christ 
shall  all  be  made  alive,"  because,  born  of  the  Spirit,  they 
are  made  partakers  of  Christ's  grace  by  faith.  These  only 
Paul  has  here  in  view,  while  those  who  through  their 
unbelief  are  eliminated  from  man's  redemption,  have  no 
share  in  the  blessed  resurrection  to  eternal  life  described 
in  this  chapter.  They  shall  indeed  "  come  forth"  also, — 
for  "  all  that  are  in  their  graves  shall  hear  His  voice," — 
but  alas !  "  unto  the  resurrection  of  damnation,"  and  not 
unto  that  of  eternal  bliss,  (John  v.  28,  29.)  It  was  at  this 
that  Pelix  trembled.  Christ  our  Head  is  risen,  but  in  the 
members  no  resurrection  is  yet  visible.  Nevertheless  the 
Apostle  exhorts  them  that  are  baptized  into  Christ's  death, 
and  walk  in  newness  of  life,  to  "reckon  themselves  to  be  dead 
indeed  unto  sin,  but  alive  unto  God  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord,"  (Eom.  vi.  11.)  But  it  costs  the  total  renunciation 
of  self  and  its   natural  perception,  to  reckon   ourselves 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  143 

as  grown  together  in  the  likeness  of  Christ's  resur- 
rection. Therefore  Paul  bids  the  Christian  to  strengthen 
his  hope  by  ''looking"  at  the  things  which  are  "not 
seen,"  unpuzzled  by  this  sacred  oxymoron;  and  teaches 
us  to  apprehend  that  holy  order,  "  Christ  the  first-fruits, 
afterward  they  that  are  Christ's  at  His  coming."  No 
sooner  than  on  the  glorious  day  of  His  coming  again  shall 
the  entire  harvest  follow  their  great  First-fruit,  in  springing 
up  and  blooming  forth  from  their  graves.  Of  a  "first" 
and  "  second "  resurrection — that  before  and  this  on  the 
last  day — Paul  knows  nothing;  so  w^e  may  take  the  "first 
resurrection  "  (Ptev.  xx.  5,  G)  to  mean  none  other  than  that 
which  faith  celebrates  over  the  baptismal  grave,  (Col.  ii.  12 ;) 
and  the  thousand  years'  reign  of  the  confessors  of  Christ,  the 
reign  which  Christ's  Spirit  is  exercising  through  the  Gospel 
over  all  nations  that  do  homage  to  Him.  By  "  then  cometh 
the  end,"  Paul  does  not  mean  the  universal  resurrection  of 
the  just  and  unjust,  as  following  that  of  "  the  thousand  years' 
reign ;"  but  he  thus  explains  what  he  means  by  ''the  end : " 
"When  He  shall  have  delivered  up  the  kingdom  to  God, 
even  the  Father ;  when  He  shall  have  put  down  all  rule, 
and  all  authority  and  power."  This  surrender  of  the 
finished  reign  of  grace  to  God  the  Father  will  take  place 
when,  to  the  very  last  of  them,  (Heb.  ii.  14,)  the  Son  of 
His  love  shall  have  put  all  enemies  under  Plis  feet;  and 
thus  the  prediction  of  the  Son  of  Man  in  the  eighth  Psalm 
(cf.  Heb.  i.,  ii.)  be  brought  to  its  fulfilment  in  the  restored 
reign  of  mankind  through  their  Eepresentative  and  "Captain 
of  their  salvation."  When  Christ's  word  from  the  cross — 
"  It  is  finished!" — shall  find  its  re-echo  in,  "  All  things  are 
put  under  His  feet,"  all,  with  one  single  exception — viz., 
Him  who  did  put  all  things  under  Him ;  then  the  end 
shall  have  come,  whereunto  from  the  beginning  the  whole 
history  of  salvation  tended ;  and  "  then  shall  the  Son  also 


144  ST  PAUL. 

Himself  be  subject  unto  Him  that  put  all  things  under 
Him,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all."    Until  this  glorious  issue 
Christ  our  King  sways  the  sceptre  of  His  power  in  heaven 
and  earth,  as  the  Mediator  between  God  and  men,  (1  Tim. 
ii.  5,)  in  order  to  free  mankind,  held  bound  by  Satan,  sin, 
and  death,  and  through  the  "joyful  tidings"  of  His  accom- 
plished redemption,  to  lead  them  back  to  communion  with 
God.     Only  when,  through  His  of&ce  of  grace,  God  shall 
have  become  again  all  in  all,  and  every  antagonistic  power 
shall  have  been  cast  out  from  His  kingdom — only  then  it 
is  that  the  Son  delivers  it  up  to  the  Father.     Yet  in  doing 
so  He  does  not  give  it  out  of  His  hand.    "  Whose  kingdom 
shall  have  no  end,"  is  the  confession  of  His  Church,  and 
rightly  so.     As  before  the  foundation  of  the  world  the  Son 
was  throned  with  the  Father,  equal  God  in  honour  and 
might,  so  will  Jesus  Christ  throughout  eternity  sit  upon 
the  throne  of  His  glory,  to  which  He  will  exalt  also  all  the 
Father  hath  given  Him ;  and  every  tongue  shall  confess 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Lord,  to  the  glory  of  God  the 
Father,  (Phil.  ii.  11.)     In  Him  all  have  now  become  sub- 
ject to  God  the  Father;  the  "First-fruit"  of  now  glorified 
mankind  has  drawn  all  after  and  to  Him ;  the  eternal  Son 
of  God,  who  is  very  man,  rules  from  everlasting  to  ever- 
lasting, as  Head  of  His  Church,  reigning  with  Him,  (2  Tim. 
ii.  12,)  and  whose  reign  in  Him  will  be  in  blessed  subjec- 
tion to  God.     Such  is  the  goal  of  the  Church ;  and  she  is 
sure  of  this  glorious  goal,  because  Christ  is  risen  from 
the  dead.     Death  has  become  a  derision  to  them  who  are 
"baptized   over   the   dead" — the   bodies   of  the   blessed 
martyrs,  (or  thus  :  who  have  insured  their  dying  bodies  in 
baptism  unto  life,)  who  do  not  count  their  lives  dear  unto 
themselves,  but  live  unto  Him  who  died  for  them  and  rose 
again ;  who  count  themselves  as  sheep  for  the  slaughter, 
(Eom.  viii.  36 ;)  who  bear  about  in  their  bodies  the  dying 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  145 

of  the  Lord  Jesus,  (2  Cor.  iv.  10 ;)  yea,  who  die  daily,  that 
they  may  gain  for  their  joy  and  crown  of  rejoicing  (1  Thess. 
ii.  19,  20)  those  that  are  made  alive  by  their  preaching. 
On  whose  side  will  ye  be  now,  0  Corinthians  ?  on  Paul's? 
or  of  those  who,  denying  our  Christian  hope,  are  only  con- 
sistent when  they  say,  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to- 
morrow we  die  ?"  Whatever  their  talk  may  be  of  "  God," 
it  can  beguile  no  sober-minded  Christian ;  for  to  whom  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead  is  naught,  their  God  is  naught. 
With  such  men  Paul  will  have  nothing  to  do,  while  he 
gladly  answers  the  question  of  timid  Christians,  ''How 
are  the  dead  raised  up  ?  and  with  what  body  do  they  come  ? " 
Behold  the  mystery  of  resurrection  portrayed  in  the  dying 
and  sprouting  grain,  of  the  rising  body  in  the  manifold  • 
riches  of  celestial  and  terrestrial  bodies.  Should  the  Al- 
mighty be  at  a  loss  how  to  form  the  bodies  of  the  raised? 
Interpreting  by  the  emblem  of  the  grain,  the  Apostle  says, 
"  So  also  is  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  It  is  sown  in  cor- 
ruption, it  is  raised  in  incorruption ;  it  is  sown  in  dis- 
honour, it  is  raised  in  glory ;  it  is  sown  in  weakness,  it  is 
raised  in  power ;  in  fine,  it  is  sown  a  natural  {i.e.,  in  the 
original — a  psychical)  body,  it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body." 
Psychical  is  the  body  that  is  interred,  because  psyche — the 
soul — pervading  it,  holds  it  together;  and,  according  to 
Scripture  language,  animals  have  this  soul  in  common  with 
man,  only  that  man's  soul,  since  the  fall,  has  become  sin- 
ful, and  the  souled  body  "  natural  "  to  man,  and  Liable  to 
death  because  of  sin,  (Piom.  viii.  10;)  but  the  spirit,  which, 
through  the  in,dwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  has  become  Hfe, 
will  finally  pervade  again  both  body  and  soul  with  His 
power,  as  now  the  material  body  is  pervaded  by  the  soul. 
As  there  is  a  psychical  body,  so  there  is  also  a  spiritual 
body,  which  exists,  first-fruit-like,  in  Christ.  From  the 
first  Adam,  as  our  earthly  progenitor,  we  have  the  psychical 


146  ST  PAUL. 

body,  whose  living  soul,  through  the  spirit's  fall  from  God, 
has  become  fleshly,  animal,  mortal;  the  spiritual  body  we 
receive  from  Christ,  "  the  Lord  from  heaven,"  who — as  the 
"last  Adam" — ''was  made  quickening  Spirit  through  His 
resurrection,"  and  who  now — sacramentally  and  spiritually 
—engrafts  His  heavenly  life  into  His  people,  (John  vi.  54, 
63,)  in  order  to  crown  His  work  of  love  in  them  by  raising, 
at  the  last  day,  their  "  sown "  psychical  bodies  to  living 
spiritual  bodies.  In  anticipation  already  of  this  glorious 
change,  the  Apostle  says,  "  As  we  have  borne  the  image 
of  the  earthy,  we  shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the  hea- 
venly ; "  that  is,  with  body  and  soul  glorified,  we  shall  be 
"  changed  into  the  same  image  with  Him  from  glory  to  glory, 
even  as  by  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord,"  (2  Cor.  iii.  18.)  There 
indeed  the  Apostle  will  shine  with  resplendent  glory,  yet 
by  the  splendour  of  the  same  light  which  shall  give  perfect 
bliss  also  to  the  meanest  of  his  co-redeemed  brethren. 
Flesh  and  blood,  now  corruptible,  shaU  then  incorruptibly 
belong  to  the  spirits  of  the  just  made  perfect ;  after  the 
same  manner  as  to  the  Son  of  God  belong  His  flesh  and 
blood,  which  now  are  the  Christian's  meat  and  drink.  How 
constantly  expectant  Paul  was  of  "  the  last  trump,"  not 
only  when  writing  to  the  Thessalonians,  (1  Thess.  iv.  13, 
&c.,)  but  also,  when  penning  this  chapter  of  hope,  we  see 
from  his  repeating  here  as  "  a  mystery"  (ver.  51,  &c.)  what 
there  he  communicated  as  "the  word  of  the  Lord  :"  "The 
trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the  dead  shall  be  raised  incor- 
ruptible, and  we  shall  be  changed  " — viz.,  we  whom  the  last 
day  meets  alive  in  corruptible  bodies.  Thus  he  could  say, 
because  the  sound  of  the  last  trump  was  near  to  him  in  that 
of  the  first — viz.,  the  Gospel  (John  v.  25,  28 ;)  while  at  the 
same  time  he  was  prepared  to  die.  "  God  hath  both  raised  up 
the  Lord,"  he  writes  in  this  same  Epistle  (chap.  vi.  14,)  "and 
will  also  raise  up  us  by  His  own  power,"  (cf.  2  Cor.  iv.  14.) 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  147 

Changed  from  corruptible  into  incorruptible  all  men  must 
be,  whether  it  be  by  being  raised,  or  "clothed  upon;"  for 
without  this  change  the  ''joint-heirs  with  Christ"  cannot  in- 
herit the  kingdom  with  Him.  But  this  they  shall  as  surely 
as,  through  Christ's  victory  over  death  and  hell,  they  have 
the  first-fruits  of  His  Spirit;  and  their  complete  victory 
with  Him  shall  finally  accomplish  the  prophetic  word, 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  re-echoes  in  full  gospel  triumph 
through  Paul,  "  Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory  ! "  (Isa. 
XXV.  8.)  ''0  death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  0  grave,  where  is 
thy  victory?"  (Hos.  xiii.  14.) 

One  thing  yet  remains  to  complete  the  picture  of  the 
man  of  hope.  In  the  Christian's  earthly  that  shall  be- 
come heavenly,  after  the  similitude  of  Christ's  glorified 
body,  the  Apostle  finds  a  pledge  of  the  whole  creation  be- 
coming glorified.  In  that  song  of  songs  of  his,  (Eom.  viii.,) 
which  we  heard  the  man  of  faith  sing,  his  hope  also  raises 
her  voice  to  the  highest  pitch.  The  mockers  of  our  Chris- 
tian hope,  the  persecutors  of  a  flock  whose  Head  is  in 
heaven,  are  walking  the  way  of  the  children  of  Cain,  and, 
looking  only  on  the  things  which  are  seen,  regale  them- 
selves with  the  pleasures  of  this  world,  finding  both  their 
honour  and  delight  in  them.  There  now  comes  Paul  forth 
with  quite  a  new  kind  of  joy,  to  the  comfort  of  all  his 
companions  in  tribulation.  The  very  creature,  idolised  by 
the  ungodly,  and  applied  by  them  for  the  adorning  {k6<=;- 
fjLo^)  of  their  cheerless  wretchedness,  the  Apostle  gives  to 
the  poor  Christian,  who  yet  is  the  expectant  heir  of  glory, 
as  a  companion  of  his  suffering  and  hope,  by  "drawing," 
as  Luther  expresses  it,  "  the  holy  cross  through  every 
creature,  and  making  heaven  and  earth,  and  all  things 
therein,  suffer  with  us."  But  he  also  looks  forward  with 
delight  to  the  day  of  their  redemption — the  day  when  all 
created  beings,  now  our  joint-prisoners  in  mortal  body, 


148  ST  PAUL. 

shall  also  lay  aside  their  menial  garb,  worn  as  by  bondmen, 
and  be  clad  in  festive  holiday  attire.  'Tor  the  earnest 
expectation  of  the  creature  waited  for  the  manifestation  of 
the  sons  of  God.  For  the  creature  was  made  subject  to 
vanity,  not  willingly,  but  by  reason  of  Him  who  hath  sub- 
jected the  same  in  hope ;  because  the  creature  itself  also 
shall  be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the 
glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God.  For  we  know  that 
the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together 
until  now,"  (Eom.  viii.  19-22.)  It  is  said  by  Jewish 
Eabbis  in  praise  of  Saul's  teacher,  Gamaliel,  that  he  was 
not  versed  only  in  their  holy  writings  and  heathen  litera- 
ture, but  that  also  he  understood  the  language  of  creation. 
Paul,  however,  was  initiated  into  its  mysterious  import  by 
another  teacher.  We  have  heard  him  speak  at  Lystra 
(Acts  xiv.  15-17)  and  Athens  (Acts  xvii.  24,  &c.)  of  the 
rich  blessings  distributed  with  kindly  hand  by  the  benefi- 
cent Creator  and  patient  Preserver  of  all  things ;  and  he 
leaves  the  Gentiles  without  excuse  if  they  perceive  not 
His  power  and  goodness  manifested  in  His  creation,  (Eom. 
i.  19,  20.)  From  his  native  province,  Cilicia,  with  all  its 
fruitful  plains  on  the  foot  of  ''Taurus,"  and  its  jessamine 
and  oleander  shrubs  on  the  banks  of  the  "  Cydnus,"  on- 
ward to  the  charming  regions  of  Campania,  he  has  listened 
to  land  and  sea.  The  hills  about  Jerusalem  and  the 
flower-studded  brooks  of  the  Holy  Land,  the  cedars  of 
Lebanon  and  the  majestic  palm  of  Syria,  the  olive  groves 
of  Attica  and  the  evergreen  pines  of  Corinth,  the  motley 
group  of  isles  in  the  Greek  Archipelago  and  the  sunny 
splendour  of  their  vine-covered  hills — all  the  sublime 
beauties  and  lovely  grace  of  nature  found  in  Paul  an 
attentive  and  fond  observer.  But  he  heard  heaven  and 
earth  tell  of  something  else  than  do  poets  and  natural 
philosophers,  when  they  listen  to  "  the  tales  of  the  wood." 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  149 

Yea,  better  than  his  honoured  teacher  Gamaliel  could  do 
it,  did  the  holy  prophets  lead  him  to  view  nature,  after 
their  light  had  dawned  on  him  in  the  person  of  Christ. 
He  now  understood  the  8th  Psalm,  because  he  knew  man 
as  the  fallen,  but  in  Christ  restored,  lord  "  over  the  works 
of  God's  hand."  In  the  man  made  of  earth,  the  creature 
had  her  share  in  the  honour  of  the  Divine  image.  When 
man's  spirit  was  darkened  by  Satan's,  and  his  psychical 
body  became  a  prey  to  death,  the  living  light  of  creation 
expired,  the  tie  between  the  visible  and  invisible  world 
was  rent,  every  creature  was  "made  subject  to  vanity," 
and  yielded  passively  to  the  will  of  its  Creator,  though 
groaning  and  travailing  in  pain  under  the  bondage  of 
"him  that  had  the  power  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil," 
(Heb.  ii.  14,)  "the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air,"  (Eph. 
ii.  2.)  Its  perishing  condition  the  creature  would  not 
bemoan,  w^ere  it  still  permitted  to  offer  itself  up  for  the 
preservation  and  gladness  of  man,  as  he  was  in  paradise, 
created  in  God's  image.  But  that,  as  companion  in  tri- 
bulation with  God's  suffering  children,  it  has  to  endure 
violence  and  injustice  from  the  ungrateful  and  wicked, 
that  it  is  ill-treated  and  tormented  by  "unjust  stewards," 
and  the  countless  idolaters  who  pervert  the  truth  of  the 
creature's  hope  into  the  lie  of  their  hope  in  the  creature ; 
thereat  "the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in 
pain  until  now."  "Subject  to  vanity"  Paul  styles  the 
great  tragedy  of  the  creature's  present  woful  existence. 
Even  the  service  which  it  gladly  yields  to  man — to  the 
vineyard's  grateful  dresser  and  the  flock's  pious  shepherd 
(1  Cor.  ix.  7) — is  embittered,  because  it  serves  corruption  : 
''  Meats  for  the  belly,  and  the  belly  for  meats ;  but  God 
shall  destroy  both  it  and  them,"  (1  Cor.  vi.  ]  3.)  That ''  all 
is  to  perish  with  the  using  "  is  the  bitter  by-taste  of  death 
it  has  received  from  man's  death.     "In  hope"  was  the 


150  ST  PAUL. 

sound  in  Paul's  Christian  ear  when  hearkening  to  the 
plaintive  melodies  pervading  all  nature.  The  green  trees 
of  the  forest  are  sad  that  they  have  to  serve  idolaters,  and 
they  stretch  forth  their  tops  in  expectation  of  the  days 
when  they  shall  "  clap  their  hands  "  for  joy  over  the  glory 
of  God's  children,  (Isa.  Iv.  12.)  The  sea  reluctantly  bears 
ships  with  idolatrous  signs  devoted  to  Mammon's  service, 
and  would  fain  foam  forth  her  music  to  the  last  advent. 
The  whole  earth  pants  under  the  load  of  the  daily  count- 
less acts  of  injustice  and  violence  committed  on  her  sur- 
face, and  longs  after  her  change  into  an  "habitation  of 
righteousness."  The  sun  feels  impatient  to  shine  down 
from  year  to  year  upon  the  misdeeds  of  the  wicked.  Oh 
that  it  might  soon  lose  its  shine,  after  the  manner  in  which 
it  grew  pale  at  Damascus  before  the  heavenly  brightness 
of  the  Lord !  Yea,  heaven  and  earth,  both  partakers  in 
Zion's  captivity,  tarry  for  their  redemption,  like  the  weary- 
labourer  for  the  approach  of  his  holiday.  But  the  glorious 
end  of  their  tarrying  is  pledged  also  in  Christ,  "  the  first- 
born of  every  creature,"  (Col.  i.  15.)  As  much  as  "the 
second  Man,  the  Lord  from  heaven,"  under  whose  feet  God 
hath  put  all  things,  is  "worthy  of  higher  honour"  than 
''  the  first  man,  of  the  earth,"  so  much  more  gloriously  also 
will  the  creature  be  adorned,  when  in  the  "  regeneration" 
(Matt.  xix.  28)  it  shall  stand  forth  a  joyful  participator  in 
the  final  redemption  of  God's  children,  in  their  glorious 
freedom  from  Satan,  sin,  and  death,  itself  freed  also  from 
the  yoke  of  corruptible  bondage,  no  longer  ''  unwillingly," 
but  again  willingly  to  serve,  in  new  wise,  its  legitimate 
lords.  (Cf.  Matt.  xxvi.  29.)  Then  the  plaintive  sym- 
phonies of  creation's  groans  shall  have  an  end,  and  be 
swallowed  up  in  the  redeemed's  endless  hymns  of  "ho- 
sannah"  sung  to  God.  Paul  understood  the  speechless 
aspirations  of  creation  under  the  creature's  groaning  an- 


THE  MAN  OF  HOPE.  161 

guish,  (''we  know"  is  his  expression,)  for  lie  found  them 
re-echoed  in  God's  children,  who  themselves  also  are  made 
to  groan  in  their  mortal  bodies,  for  whose  redemption  they 
are  waiting :  "  And  not  only  they,  but  ourselves  also, 
which  have  the  first-fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  we  ourselves 
groan  within  ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit, 
the  redemption  of  the  body." 

Is  there  anything  greater  than  the  hope  that  Paul  had 
in  Christ  Jesus  ?  "  And  now  abideth  faith,  hope,  charity, 
these  three ;  but  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity!'  In  the 
light  of  the  epiphany  of  glory,  which  in  the  followers  of 
Christ  already  manifests  itself  here  on  earth,  and  which 
shall  never  cease,  let  us  now  view  Paul  in  the  next 
chapter.  « 

"  Zion  hears  the  watchmen  singing, 
And  all  her  heart  for  joy  is  springing; 
She  wakes,  she  rises  from  her  gloom, 
For  her  Lord  comes  down  all-glorious. 
Is  strong  in  grace,  in  truth  victorious  ; 
Her  star  is  risen,  her  light  is  come  ! 
Ah,  come,  Thou  blessed  One, 
God's  own  beloved  Son. 
Hallelujah ! 
We  follow,  till  the  halls  we  see. 
Where  Thou  hast  bid  us  sup  with  Thee." 


IX. 
THE  MAN  OF  LOVE. 

"Be ye  followers  of  me,  even  as  I  also  am  of  Christ." — 1  Cor.  xi.  1. 

Love  is  life  in  others,  life  of  Me  in  Thee.  In  Christ  was 
manifested  bodily  the  love  that  dwells  in  God,  and  the 
disciple  whom  Jesus  loved  drank  it  in  at  the  breast  of  the 
Son  of  man.  Pectus  facit  theologum,  'tis  the  heart  makes 
the  divine.  St  John  the  divine's  sentence  is,  "  Every  one 
that  loveth  is  born  of  God,  and  knoweth  God.  He  that 
loveth  not,  knoweth  not  God;  for  God  is  love,"  (1  John  iv. 
7,  8.)  That  "  the  same  anointing  "  teacheth  the  Christian 
all  things,  (1  John  ii.  27,)  we  may  see  also  in  Paul,  made 
by  the  grace  of  Christ's  Spirit  ''  the  man  of  love."  Where 
he  extols  love,  it  is  at  times  as  if  one  heard  even  St  John 
speak.  And  yet  we  find  here  also  the  man  again  who 
once  laboured  and  wearied  himself  under  the  law,  but  has 
now,  in  Christ,  learned  to  rejoice  in  the  fulfilment  of  the 
law.  Having  apprehended  the  righteousness  by  faith  in 
opposition  to  that  by  works,  and  Christian  hope  in  oppo- 
sition to  that  of  carnal  Judaism,  and  being  thus  forced 
from  the  bondage  of  the  law,  he  counts  love  to  be  "  the 
law  of  Christ,"  (Gal.  vi.  2 ;)  and  in  the  very  place  where 
he  declares  that  to  them  that  are  without  law,  himself  had 
become  as  without  law,  he  feels  constrained  to  insert, 
"  Being  not  without  law  to  God,  but  under  the  law  of 
Christ,"  (1  Cor.  ix.  21.)  All  that  rich  admonition,  wherein 
he  presents  himself  to  his  brethren  as  a  free  evangelical 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  153 

Christian,  whose  love  makes  him  the  servant  of  all,  he 
closes  with  the  sentence  we  have  taken  for  the  heading  of 
this  chapter,  "  Be  ye  followers  of  me,  even  as  I  also  am  of 
Christ." 

In  Christ  Jesus  his  Lord  he  has  met  with  ''  truth  "  per- 
sonified, (Eph.  iv.  21,)  the  form  of  which  he  found  in  the 
law,  (Eom.  ii.  20.)  That  Christ  be  formed  in  his  "little 
children,"  as  in  himself,  thereunto  he  laboured  like  one 
"travailing  in  birth,"  (Gal.  iv.  19;)  and  this  forming  of 
Christ  in  them  is  perfected  in  love.  He  stirs  up  the  "  love 
of  the  Spirit "  (Eom  xv.  30)  in  the  brethren  that  have  the 
"  Spirit  of  Christ,"  and  therefore  are  His,  (Eom.  viii.  9 ;) 
the  fellowship  of  the  Spirit  is  shewn  in  likemindedness, 
"  having  the  same  love,  being  of  one  accord,  of  one  mind," 
(Phil.  ii.  1,  2.)  To  the  young  Christians  at  Thessalonica, 
whom  he  cherished,  "even  as  a  nurse  her  children,"  (1  Thess. 
ii.  7,)  he  found  it  not  needful  to  write  of  "brotherly  love," 
themselves  being  "taught  of  God  to  love  one  another," 
(1  Thess.  iv.  9 ;)  for  where  "  faith  groweth,"  there  "  charity 
aboundeth,"  (2  Thess.  i.  3.)  To  them  who,  according  to  the 
riches  of  God's  glory,  are  strengthened  with  might  by  His 
Spirit  in  the  inner  man,  it  is  given  to  have  Christ-  dwelling 
in  their  hearts  by  faith,  whereby  they  are  "rooted  and 
grounded  in  love ; "  that  they  may  be  able  to  comprehend 
with  all  saints  the  all-abounding  "love  of  Christ,  which  pass- 
eth  knowledge,"  that  they  may  be  filled  with  all  the  fulness  of 
God,  (Eph.  iii.  16, 19.)  Knowledge  without  love  is  naught ; 
but  being  "  knit  together  in  love,"  Christians  will  attain 
"  unto  all  riches  of  the  full  assurance  of  understanding," 
and  of  the  mystery  of  Christ,  "  in  whom  are  hid  aU  the 
treasures  of  wisdom  and  knowledge,"  (CoL  ii.  2,  3.)  To 
the  "  foolish  Galatians,"  who,  in  their  legalising,  were 
hewing  out  for  themselves  "  broken  cisterns,  that  can  hold 
no  water,"  (Jer.  ii.   13,)  and  whose  love  therefore  was 


154  ST  PAUL. 

pining  away,  he  exclaims,  "  Christ  is  become  of  no  effect 
unto  you  ;  whosoever  of  you  are  justified  by  the  law,  ye 
are  fallen  from  grace.  For  we  through  .the  Spirit  wait  for 
the  hope  of  righteousness  by  faith.  For  in  Jesus  Christ 
neither  circumcision  availeth  anything,  nor  uncircumcision; 
but  faith  which  worketh  by  love,"  (Gal.  v.  4,  6.)  Thus 
also  "we  establish  the  law  through  faith,"  (Eom.  iii.  31;) 
because  faith,  having  received  Christ  by  grace,  lives  by 
and  in  His  love,  which  is  "the  fulfilling  of  the  law." 
What  Moses'  law  is  claim-wise,  Christ's  gospel  is  gift- wise, 
viz.,  the  impress  of  God's  holy  love ;  and  it  is  out  of  the 
gospel  ("by  the  mercies  of  God,"  Eom.  xii.  1)  that  the 
Apostle  draws  the  courage  to  exhort  his  flocks,  '*  Be  ye 
therefore  followers  of  God,  as  dear  children,  and  walk  in 
love,  as  Christ  also  hath  loved  us,  and  hath  given  Himself 
for  us  an  offering  and  a  sacrifice  to  God  for  a  sw^eet-smelling 
savour,"  (Eph.  v.  1,  2.)  ''  Put  on  therefore,  as  the  elect 
of  God,  holy  and  beloved,  bowels  of  mercies,  kindness, 
humbleness  of  mind,  meekness,  longsuffering,  forbearing 
one  another,  and  forgiving  one  another ;  if  any  man  have  a 
quarrel  against  any,  even  as  Christ  forgave  you,  so  also  do 
ye.  And  above  all  these  things  put  on  charity,  which  is 
the  bond  of  perfectness,"  (Col.  iii.  12,  14.)  In  the  admoni- 
tory part  of  his  Epistle  to  the  Eomans  love  assumes  her 
highest  height.  Having  attired  the  saints  with  the  double 
necklace  of  ''brotherly  love"  (the  holy  o-to/37?;,  relation- 
love)  and  "  love  to  enemies,"  (chap,  xii.,)  and  exhorted  the 
"  heavenly  citizens  "  by  well-doing  to  prove  themselves 
good  and  conscientious  subjects  unto  the  powers  that  be, 
he  shews  them  how  richly  they  possess  everything  need- 
ful to  prove  before  the  Gentiles,  by  their  honest  walk 
among  them,  "  as  in  the  day,"  that  the  gospel-day  had  in- 
deed set  in ;  and,  summing  up  all  in  one,  he  says,  "  Owe  no 
man  anything,  but  to  love  one  another ;  for  he  that  loveth 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  155 

another  hath  fulfilled  the  law,"  (chap.  xiii.  8.)  Everywhere 
does  the  ''  debtor "  both  to  the  Greeks  and  Barbarians 
(chap.  i.  14)  shew  himself  an  example  of  that  love,  wherein 
one  owes  himself  to  other.  His  whole  life  is  one  continued 
payment  of  the  debt  of  love  to  which  the  Lord  Jesus 
bound  him,  when  He  forgave  him  all  his  debt ;  and 
because  love  never  ceases,  we  see  in  him  what  Augustine 
says  of  love's  paying  and  yet  remaining  in  debt :  "  Love 
giveth  in  paying  debts,  yet,  after  giving,  always  remaineth 
'herself  in  debt.  Time  never  will  be  that  she  is  not 
paying ;  nor  doth  she  ever  lose,  but  rather  multiplieth  her- 
self in  giving."  If  it  could  be  said  of  any  man  that  (in  this 
sense)  he  paid  all  he  owes,  it  was  Paul,  who  ever  continued 
in  the  payment  of  love's  unceasing  debt,  (Heb.  xiii.  1 ;)  for 
the  unanimous  claim,  the  sum  and  substance  of  all  com- 
mandments, is.  Thou  shalt  love.  Quite  at  one  with  St  Jolin, 
Paul  beholds  the  manifestation  of  the  love  of  God  in 
brotherly  love,  (1  John  iv.  21,)  and  gives  to  this  the  prize 
of  law's  fulfilment,  (Eom.  xiii.  8.)  How  had  he  been  so 
blind  aforetime,  when  fancying  to  himself  that  the  law 
could  make  of  him  a  man  of  love  ?  But  now,  without  its 
aid  and  co-operation,  the  law  found  itself  fulfilled  in  the 
servant  and  follower  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  complete  ful- 
filler  of  all  righteousness  required  by  the  law  is  Christ  for 
us,  and  Christ's  Spirit  in  us.  Love,  which  is  its  fulfilling, 
(Eom.  xiii.  10,)  is  ever  growing,  therefore  never  perfect  in  us, 
but  is  well-pleasing  and  acceptable  unto  God  in  Christ  our 
intercessor  and  advocate. 

The  apostolic  declaration,  that  ''  he  that  loveth  another 
hath  fulfilled  the  law,"  has  a  twofold  import.  First,  love 
is  that  deed  required  by  the  law,  in  which  all  other  deeds 
required  by  it  are  contained  and  summed  up.  *  "  For  this," 
he  immediately  continues,  "thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery, 
thou  shalt  not  kill,  thou  shalt  not  steal,  thou  shalt  not  bear 


156  ST  PAUL. 

false  witness,  thou  shalt  not  covet;  and  if  there  be  any 
other  commandment,  it  is  briefly  comprehended  in  this 
saying,  namely.  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself." 
Therein,  then,  consists  the  Christian's  freedom  from  the 
law,  that  neitlier  is  he  driven  to  any  work  of  the  law, 
through  which  he  has  still  to  become  righteous  before  God, 
nor  is  he  bound  to  any  but  the  "new  commandment," 
(John  xiii.  34,)  which  he  readily  and  gladly  fulfils — and 
wherein  he  accurately  hits  the  eternal  sense  of  all  law's 
commandments — by  the  spirit  of  love.  Luther,  according 
to  the  sense  given  him  of  Paul's  gospel,  says,  "  Thus,  then, 
this  commandment  of  love '  is  a  short  commandment,  and 
yet  a  long  one;  it  is  but  one,  and  yet  many;  none,  and  yet 
all ;  one,  and  short  in  itself,  and  soon  understood,  but  long 
and  many  in  practice,  for  it  comprehends  and  rules  all; 
it  is  no  commandment  in  respect  to  works,  for  it  names 
none  as  its  own  in  particular,  and  yet  it  contains  all,  be- 
cause all  are,  and  must  be,  its  own.  Thus  the  command- 
ment of  love  annuls  all  others,  and  yet  establishes  them 
all ;  and  that  for  this  reason,  and  to  this  end,  that  we  may 
learn  and  know  to  keep  and  to  esteem  no  commandment  or 
work  other  than  is  required  and  bidden  by  love."  Where, 
for  instance,  the  Apostle  charges  husbands  and  wives  with 
their  duty  one  toward  another,  what  else  does  he  but  en- 
large on  the  commandment  of  love  ?  "I  think  also  that  I 
have  the  Spirit  of  God,"  he  ventures  to  say,  (1  Cor.  vii.  40.) 
But  the  Spirit  of  God  is  love.  "  Love  worketh  no  ill  to 
his  neighbour ;  therefore  love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  law." 
"  Have  love,"  saith  Augustine,  in  one  mind  with  Paul, 
"  and  do  what  thou  wilt."  But  more  still.  For  Paul  also 
calls  love  the  ''  fulfilling,"  or  filling  up,  of  the  law,  because 
it  fills  up  its  empty  form  with  real  substance ;  so  that  the 
manifold  riches  contained  in  each  commandment  are  made 
apparent.    Works  conformable  to  law,  without  love,  are  but 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  157 

empty  nutshells.  Yea,  works  tlie  most  splendid,  such  as 
bestowing  all  one's  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  even  acts  of 
martyrdom — the  giving  one's  body  to  be  burnt — Paul  de- 
clares to  be  without  profit  if  they  lack  the  moving  prin- 
ciple, which  alone  gives  and  can  give  them  reality,  and 
heart,  and  soul — viz.,  love,  (1  Cor.  xiii.  3.)  Out  of  the  seed 
of  Christ's  Spirit  love  grows  into,  and  puts  life  into,  every 
form  and  kind  of  fruit,  which  God  has  delineated  in  His 
commandments,  all  commandments  of  love ;  and  this  is  the 
evangelical  use  of  the  law,  as  taught  by  Paul,  that  the 
Christian  in  his  walk  of  love  be  led  by  the  light  of  God's 
commandments,  as  by  the  reins  of  the  spiritual  law,  by 
which  the  law  of  the  Spirit  (or  of  Christ,  or  of  faith)  with 
mild  and  yet  lordly  hand  guides  the  children  of  the  Spirit. 
How  finely  does  the  Apostle  understand  how  to  draw  forth 
the  sense  of  love  from  under  the  veil  even  of  outward  or- 
dinances! "  It  is  written  in  the  law  of  Moses,  Thou  shalt 
not  muzzle  the  mouth  of  the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the  corn. 
Does  God  take  care  for  oxen?  or  saith  He  it  altogether  for 
our  sakes  ?"  (1  Cor.  ix.  9,  10.) 

What  Christian  heart  can  help  being  touched,  when,  on 
Palm-Sunday,  the  Epistle  is  read  of  the  humiliation  and 
exaltation  of  our  blessed  Saviour — an  Epistle,  the  mys- 
terious doctrine  of  which  Paul  introduces  in  these  words, 
"  Let  this  mind  be  in  you  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus," 
(Phil.  ii.  5.)  That  mind  of  love  he  means,  which  will 
prompt  Christ's  followers  to  "  do  nothing  through  strife  or 
vainglory,  in  lowliness  of  mind  each  esteeming  other  better 
than  himself,  none  looking  on  his  own  things,  but  every 
man  also  on  the  things  of  others."  Wherever  he  places 
Christ's  example  before  his  own  and  his  brethren's  eyes, 
he  beholds  love  in  the  foreground,  that  love  which  divests 
herself  of  her  own,  condescends  to  the  lowly,  and  enriches 
the  poor.     He  will  not  command  the  Corinthians  into  well- 


158  ST  PAUL. 

doing  to  their  poor  brethren  at  Jerusalem  ;  but  by  a  graphic 
depicting  of  the  abundant  liberality  of  the  churches  in 
Macedonia,  he  will  prove  the  sincerity  of  their  love ;  and 
then  points  them  to  Christ's  example  of  love,  as  the  funda- 
mental motive  to  all  ours  :  "  Tor  ye  know  the  grace  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  though  He  was  rich,  yet  for  your 
sakes  He  became  poor,  that  ye  through  His  poverty  might 
be  rich,"  (2  Cor.  viii.  9.)  And  of  the  Eomans,  for  whose 
faith  he  fervently  thanks  God,  he  demanded — "by  the 
mercies  of  God  " — as  their  best  sacrifice,  that  of  their  own 
selves.  "  For  even  Christ,''  he  says,  "pleased  not  Himself;" 
"  wherefore  receive  ye  one  another,  as  Christ  also  received 
us  to  the  glory  of  God,"  (Eom.  xv.  3,  7.)  Paul's  whole  life 
is  perfumed  with  the  sweet  savour  of  self-sacrificing  love. 
We  know  in  what  high  estimation  he  held  evangelical 
liberty,  and  how  he  burnt  in  holy  zeal  against  those  who 
would  rob  others  of  this  inestimable  treasure.  "  Beware  of 
dogs,"  he  could  break  forth  asjainst  them,  "  beware  of  evil 
workers,  beware  of  the  concision ;  for  we  are  the  circum- 
cision, which  worship  God  in  the  Spirit,  and  rejoice  in 
Christ  Jesus,  and  have  no  confidence  in  the  flesh,"  (Phil, 
iii.  2,  3.)  But  while  in  his  heart  "before  God"  faith 
reigned  supreme,  (Rom.  xiv.  22,)  he  yielded  to  love  the 
supremacy  in  relation  to  his  neighbour.  ''Though  I  be 
free  from  all  men, — for  why  is  my  liberty  judged  of  another 
man's  conscience  ?  (1  Cor.  x.  29,)— yet  have  I  made  my- 
self servant  unto  all,  that  I  might  gain  the  more,"  (1  Cor. 
ix.  19.)  It  would  have  been  to  him  a  bringing  under  the 
power  of  something  else  than  Christ,  had  he  felt  himself 
hindered  by  anything  from  foregoing,  and  leaving  undone 
what  he,  to  possess  and  to  do,  had  the  power.  He  was  far 
from  thinking  that  he  had  received  his  gospel  liberty,  his 
evangelical  knowledge  and  strength  of  faith,  in  order  to 
please  himself  in  them.     Nay,  with  burning  sympathy  to 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  159 

feel,  as  his  own,  the  offences  of  the  meanest  among  his 
flock,  (2  Cor.  xi.  29 ;)  with  strong  shoulders  to  bear  the  in- 
firmities of  the  weak ;  to  sacrifice  his  power,  rather  than 
by  the  use  of  it  to  shew  his  Christian  liberty,  where  either 
it  might  save  many,  or  save  offence  to  a  single  brother;  to 
turn  aU  to  the  best,  and  recognise  the  scrupulous  and 
narrow-minded  as  brethren  also  for  whom  Christ  died,  as 
servants  living  unto  the  Lord,  standing  and  falling  to  their 
own  Master,  (Eom.  xiv.,) — this  was  Paul's  mind,  and 
therein  he  walked  according  to  love.  The  Corinthians 
had  seen  what  he  wrote  in  1  Cor.  viii.-x. ;  the  more  boldly 
then  could  he  exhort  them,  "  Let  no  man  seek  his  own, 
but  every  one  another's  wealth,"  (1  Cor.  x.  24 ;)  while  the 
Eomans  could  read  Eom.  xiv.,  under  the  testimony  of  many 
witnesses  that  the  Apostle  had  dra^vn  his  own  portrait. 
"  Quod  nos  docemus,  ille  vivit,"  (what  we  teach,  he  lives,) 
said  Luther  of  Mcolas  Hausmann,  a  Pauline  follower  of 
Christ. 

Gregory  of  j^azianzum  read  in  Paul's  Epistles  what 
Paul  says  himself  of  Paul.  The  breath  of  the  Spirit  of 
revelation  pervades  the  speech  of  the  holy  man  of  God ; 
wherefore  his  words  are  no  dead  letters,  but  full  of  soul, 
"having  hands  and  feet,"  as  Luther  says,  because  they 
bring  the  man  Paul  to  our  view  as  he  verily  lives  and 
moves  in  Christ.  "  For  we  write  none  other  things  unto 
you  than  what  (plainly  told)  ye  read  or  acknowledge,  and 
I  trust  ye  shall  acknowledge  to  the  end ;  as  also  ye  have 
acknowledged  us  in  part,  that  we  are  your  rejoicing,  even 
as  ye  also  are  ours  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  (2  Cor. 
i.  13,  14.)  It  is  in  this  view  that  we  shall  now  proceed  to 
consider  his  masterly  panegyric  upon  love  ("charity")  in 
1  Cor.  xiii.;  and  we  shall  find  that,  upon  the  "  more  excel- 
lent way,"  which  here  he  shews  the  Corinthians  and  us  all, 
himself  has  preceded  his  brethren  as  the  follower  of  Christ. 


160  ST  PAUL. 

*'  Though  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  an- 
gels, and  have  not  charity,  I  am  become  as  sounding  brass 
or  a  tinkling  cymbal."  Paul  thanked  God  that  he  spoke 
with  tongues  more  than  all  the  Corinthians,  (1  Cor.  xiv. 
18  ;)  but  though  it  be  in  the  speech  of  angels  that  behold 
God's  face,  yet  would  he  be  like  a  clock  or  cymbal,  that 
gives  forth  its  sound  without  either  feeling  or  conscious- 
ness, unless  he  be  moved  by  the  love  which  the  Spirit  of 
God  infuses  into  that  of  man.  He  was  conscious,  then, 
that  love  to  God  and  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
love  to  His  people,  love  to  all  men,  was  the  moving  soul 
of  all  his  speaking  with  tongues.  God  was  the  witness  of 
his  love,  whom  he  served  with  his  spirit  in  the  Gospel  of 
His  Son,  (Eom.  i.  9.)  Therefore,  though  he  could  speak 
with  tongues  more  than  they  all,  he  strove  most,  and  loved 
best,  to  speak  God's  word  so  plainly  "  with  the  under- 
standing," that  the  most  unlearned  who  heard  him  might 
say  *'  Amen"  to  it.  ''  In  the  church  I  had  rather  speak 
five  words  with  my  understanding,  than  ten  thousand 
words  in  an  unknown  tongue,"  (1  Cor.  xiv.  19.)  He 
gladly  bore  to  have  the  "milk"  of  his  apostolic  teaching  (1 
Cor.  iii.  2)  less  valued  by  the  Corinthians,  than  the  malm- 
sey of  their  speaking  in  tongues ;  but  he  bears  down  all 
who  think  themselves  prophets,  or  spiritual,  by  this  crush- 
ing sentence  : — "  The  things  that  I  write  unto  you  are  the 
commandments  of  the  Lord,"  (1  Cor.  xiv.  37;)  cutting 
short  those  who  will  not  acknowledge  church  precepts 
and  order  as  "the  commandments  of  the  Lord,"  by  saying  : 
"  But  if  any  man  be  ignorant,  let  him  be  ignorant,"  (1  Cor. 
V.  38.)  But  not  only  was  the  speaking  with  tongues 
valueless  in  Paul's  eye,  unless  the  sounding  instrument  be 
tuned  by  love;  but  he  goes  further : — "And  though  I  have 
the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  understand  all  mysteries,  and  all 
knowledge ;  and  though  I  have  all  faith,  so  that  I  could 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  161 

remove  mountains,  and  have  not  charity,  I  am  nothing." 
We  know  him,  the  man  of  prophecy,  and  of  knowledge  in 
the  mystery  of  Christ,  the  preacher  of  the  Gospel;  but 
though  his  knowledge  and  prophecy  were  no  more  "in  part," 
but  already  ''perfect,"  after  the  manner  of  ''seeing  face  to 
face,"  yet  would  he  not  be  acknowledged  by  Christ,  but  be 
"  a  cast-away,"  unless  he  preached  the  Gospel  out  of  love 
to  Him  and  to  souls,  whom  the  preached  Word  is  powerful 
to  win  and  save.     It  was,  therefore,  with  a  shepherd's  care 
and  love,  with  the  wisdom  of  a  father  and  the  tenderness 
of  a  mother,  yea,  and  the  carefulness  of  a  nurse,  (1  Thess. 
ii.  7,)  that  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles  cared  for  the  sheep 
and  lambs  whom  he  had  brought  into  the  fold  of  Christ. 
In  "labour  of  love"  (1  Thess.   i.  3)  we  have   seen  the 
"labourer  together  with  God"  (1  Cor.  iii.  9)  accomplish 
his  course  from  Corinth  to  Jerusalem,  from  Jerusalem  to 
Eome.     All  his  epistles  draw  forth  the  treasure  of  j)ro- 
phecy  and  doctrine  out  of  a  heart  filled  with  holy  delight 
in  his  flocks.     Love  taught  him  not  to  please  himself  in 
writing  to  them,  not  to  be  led  away  by  his  own,  though 
spiritual,  inclination,  but  to  speak  and  write  always  and 
everywhere  to  edification,  without  any  unfaithful  keeping 
back  of  what  was  profitable  unto  them,   (Acts  xx.  20,) 
whether  it  please  or  displease,  (Gal.  i.  10;  1  Thess.  ii.  4, 
5 ;)  but  also  without  any  unchaste  obtrusion  of  mysteries 
unprofitable  to  godliness.     "For  whether  we  be  beside 
ourselves,  it  is  to  God ;  or  whether  we  be  sober,  it  is  for 
your  cause,"  he  writes  to  the  Corinthians,  (2  Cor.  v.  13,)  to 
whom  his  slanderers  had  probably  whispered  into  the  ear 
that  their  dry  and  sober  teacher,  Paul,  lacked  that  genial 
flight  of  enthusiasm  to  be  expected  of  an  apostle.     Casual 
throughout,  serving  actual  wants,  and  suited  to  individual 
circumstances,  are  all  his  apostolic  epistles,  while  inspired 
by  the  Comforter  and  dictated  by  the  love  of  Christ ;  and 


162  ST  PAUL. 

exactly  so  they  required  all  to  be  written,  in  order  to 
strike  into  heart  and  life — then,  now,  and  at  all  times. 
Without  love,  the  preacher  Paul  had  not  only  himself  been 
unblest,  but  without  that  love,  which — taught  by  the 
Spirit — gave  him  the  measure  and  wording  of  wholesome 
doctrine  in  all  things,  the  Church  of  Christ  would  not 
have  had  in  him  the  man,  who,  as  he  came  to  the  Eomans, 
comes  to  us  all  "in  the  fulness  of  the  blessing  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ,"  (Eom.  xv.  29.)  How  intent  he  was  not 
to  be  a  mere  verbal  preacher  of  the  Gospel,  but  by  his  life 
also  to  shew  forth  the  self-sacrificing  love  of  Christ,  we  are 
made  to  feel  by  his  equally  bold  and  humble  words  :  ''  It 
were  better  for  me  to  die,  than  that  any  man  should  make 
my  glorying  void.  For  though  I  preach  the  Gospel,  I 
have  nothing  to  glory  of;  for  necessity  is  laid  upon  me; 
yea,  woe  is  u.nto  me,  if  I  preach  not  the  Gospel!"  So 
effectually  had  the  Lord  called  him  to  preach  the  Gospel, 
that  to  shrink  from  it  would  have  been  mortal  sin  to  him. 
To  a  voluntary  labourer's  wages  the  "  unprofitable  ser- 
vant" (Luke  xvii.  10)  laid  no  claim.  "With  him  it  indeed 
was  "  life  for  life."  And  therefore  he  felt  it  his  duty  in 
his  own  person  to  forego  the  reward,  of  which  otherwise 
the  labourer  in  the  Gospel  is  worthy,  (Luke  x.  7  ;  1  Thess. 
V.  18,)  and  to  preach  the  same  "without  charge,"  (1  Cor. 
ix.  14-18.)  But  though  he  ''could  remove  mountains"  by 
faith,  to  which  "nothing  shall  be  impossible,"  (Matt.  xvii. 
20,)  yet  were  he  "nothing,"  unless  his  wonder-working 
faith  (1  Cor.  xii.  9)  be  but  the  handmaid  of  love.  An 
apostle's  signs  truly  were  wrought  among  the  Corinthians, 
but  before  those  of  "  wonders  and  mighty  deeds  "  he  puts 
love's  own  sign,  that  of  "patience,"  (2  Cor.  xii.  12.)  So, 
like  a  true  follower  of  his  Master,  he  humbly  refrained  from 
using  his  gift  of  working  miracles,  (1  Cor.  xii.  10,)  other- 
wise than  in  love  to  others,  not  to  his  own  pleasing.  While 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  163 

Publius'  father  and  many  others  were  healed  by  him  on 
the  same  island,  (Acts  xxviii.  8,  9,)  he  writes,  in  sad  yet 
humble  resignation,  to  Timotliy :  "  But  Trophimus  have 
I  left  at  Miletum  sick,"  (2  Tim.  iv.  20.)  He  had  been 
afraid  to  rob  this  brother  of  the  blessings  of  an  ilhiess,  to 
please  himself  by  his  company,  when  restored  to  health. 
That  with  him  genuine  and  "  full"  deeds  were  only  those 
of  love,  we  have  seen  in  Eom.  xiii.  "And  though  I 
bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed  the  poor,  and  though  I  give 
my  body  to  be  burned,  and  have  not  charity,  it  profiteth 
me  nothing."  Therefore  he  wished  to  "seal"  to  the  church 
at  Jerusalem  the  ''  fruit"  of  the  love  of  her  daughter 
churches  by  his  testimony  of  its  genuineness,  (Eom.  xv. 
28,) — viz.,  that  it  was  a  "fruit  of  their  righteousness,"  (2 
Cor.  ix.  10.)  This  may  also  throw  light  upon  the  perse- 
cuted Apostle's  flight  from  city  to  city.  Love  rendered 
him  as  capable  of  escaping  the  crown  of  martyrdom,  though 
he  had  to  be  let  ''  through  a  window  in  a  basket,"  (2  Cor. 
xi.  33,)  as  it  made  him  ready  to  sufier  all  things  for  the 
Gospel's  sake  and  its  confessors. 

And  now  (from  ver.  4)  Paul  conducts  us  into  a  garden 
of  love,  where  bed  upon  bed  stands  furnished  with  hea- 
venly plants.  His  own  heart  was  such  a  garden  of  love. 
"  Into  thy  heart,"  says  Gregory  the  Great,  "  must  thou  dip 
the  pen  that  shall  write  the  truth  legibly  into  others' 
hearts."  This  did  Paul.  "  Charity  suffereth  long  and  is 
kind."  Paul  was  no  stranger  to  Adam's  common  legacy, 
selfishness ;  nay,  his  own  was  rather  sharply  developed  in 
a  naturally  harsh  temper  of  choleric  rashness.  But,  lo, 
what  hath  grace  made  of  him !  How  lovely  does  the 
double  flower  of  long-suffering  and  kindness  exhale  her 
sweet  fragrance  in  this  man  of  God !  The  follower  of  Him 
he  has  become,  in  whom  Matthew  sees  Isaiah's  word  ful- 
filled, (Isa.  xlii.  2,  3.)     "He  shall  not  strive,  nor   cry; 


164  ST  PAUL. 

neither  shall  any  man  hear  His  voice  in  the  streets.  A 
bruised  reed  shall  He  not  break,  and  smoking  flax  shall  He 
not  quench,"  (Matt.  xii.  19,  20.)  In  "beseeching"  and 
"praying"  lay  the  power  of  this  "ambassador  for  Christ/' 
(2  Cor.  V.  20.)  It  was  ''  by  long-suffering  and  kindness,  by 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  love  unfeigned,"  that  this  "  soldier  of 
Christ "  so  successfully  wielded  the  weapons  of  his  war- 
fare, (2  Cor.  vi.  6.)  Had  he  to  rebuke  ?  he  would  rather 
than  "with  a  rod"  do  so  "in  love,  and  in  the  spirit  of 
meekness,"  (1  Cor.  iv.  21.)  Was  he  grieved  over  their 
"divisions?"  he  would  "beseech"  them  as  "brethren," 
(1  Cor.  i.  10;)  always,  and  first  of  all,  thanking  God  on 
their  behalf  for  the  grace  of  God  given  them  by  Jesus 
Christ,  (ib.  ver.  4.)  When  speaking  to  children  who  de- 
meaned themselves,  as  if  they  could  sit  in  judgment  over 
their  "weak,"  "despised,"  "persecuted,"  and  everywhere 
"buffeted"  fathers,  he  could  indeed  give  expression  to  his 
emotion  in  words  which  must  have  been  felt  by  them  like 
spears  and  lances,  as  in  1  Cor.  iv.  8,  &c.  "  Now  ye  are 
fuU,  now  ye  are  rich,  ye  have  reigned  as  kings  without  us ; 
and  I  would  to  God  ye  did  reign,  [viz.,  as  Christians  shall 
reign  with  Christ,]  that  we  also  might  reign  with  you. 
We  are  fools  for  Christ's  sake,  but  ye  are  wise  in  Christ, 
[know  how  to  adorn  with  wise  words  the  foolish  word  of 
the  Cross  :]  we  are  weak,  but  ye  are  strong :  ye  are  hon- 
ourable, but  we  are  despised."  But  what  makes  him  write 
so?  It  was  the  genuine  earnestness  of  love.  "I  write 
not  these  things  to  shame  you,  but  as  my  beloved  sons  I 
warn  you."  Might  some,  against  whom  he  was  "  bold," 
even  think  of  him,  as  if  he  "walked  according  to  th^ 
flesh  ? "  (2  Cor.  x.  2,)  before  God  he  was  manifest  in  the 
love  of  the  Spirit.  Full  of  tender  forbearance,  he  opens  his 
Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  by  relating  to  that  con- 
gregation, which  had  caused  him  so  much  grief,  all  his 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  165 

sufferings,  comforting  himself  by  their  prayers  for  him, 
(2  Cor.  i.  1 1.)  "  Let  the  righteous  smite  me ;  it  shall  be  a 
kindness ;  and  let  him  reprove  me ;  it  shall  be  an  excellent 
oil,  which  shall  not  break  my  head :  for  yet  my  prayer 
also  shall  be  in  their  calamities,"  (Ps.  cxli.  5.)  These 
words  of  the  man  after  God's  heart  found  their  counterpart 
here,  and  were  acted  over  again  between  Paul  and  the 
Corinthians;  for  friendlier  reproved  than  they  were  by 
him  could  no  one  be.  To  their  love  he  appeals,  even  he 
whom  they  had  deeply  grieved  by  the  want  of  it ;  "  having 
confidence,"  he  says,  "in  you  all,  that  my  joy  is  the  joy  of 
you  all,"  (2  Cor.  ii.  3.)  With  what  lovely  tenderness  does 
he  write :  "  If  any "  (he  forbears  to  name  the  incestuous 
person)  "  have  caused  grief,  he  hath  not  grieved  me,  but 
in  part ;  that  I  may  not  overcharge  you  all,  [with  him.] 
Sufficient  to  such  a  man  is  this  punishment,  which  was 
inflicted  of  many.  So  that  contrariwise  ye  ought  rather  to 
forgive  him,  and  comfort  him,  lest  perhaps  such  an  one 
should  be  swallowed  up  with  overmuch  sorrow.  Where- 
fore I  beseech  you,  that  ye  would  confirm  your  love  toward 
him,"  (2  Cor.  ii.  5-8.)  Yea,  that  he  had  to  afflict  his 
beloved  Corinthians  by  a  punitive  epistle,  even  them  who 
indeed  should  have  made  him  glad,  and  in  whom  he  ought 
rather  to  have  rejoiced,  (2  Cor.  ii.  2,  3,)  this  went  so  to  his 
heart,  that  he  had  already  repented  of  it ;  but  now  he  re- 
joiced and  thanked  God  for  it,  seeing  that,  through  His 
grace,  it  had  wrought  in  them  a  ''godly  sorrow,"  so  that 
they  might  receive  damage  by  him  in  nothing,  (2  Cor.  vii. 
8,  9.)  Where  he  draws  the  picture  of  an  honest  servant 
of  God,  he  exclaims :  "0  ye  Corinthians,  our  mouth  is 
open  unto  you,  our  heart  is  enlarged.  Ye  are  not  strait- 
ened in  us,  but  ye  are  straitened  in  your  own  bowels. 
Now,  for  a  recompence  in  the  same,  (I  speak  as  unto  my 
children,)  be  ye  also  enlarged,"  (2  Cor.  vi.  11-13.)     Finally, 


166  ST  PAUL. 

after  the  whole  earnestness  and  holy  zeal  of  an  apostle 
had,  like  a  heavy  thunder-cloud,  discharged  itself  over  the 
heads  of  the  Corinthians,  or  rather  their  disturbers,  there 
breaks  through  the  scattered  clouds,  like  the  sun  in  its 
noontide  brightness,  all  the  kindness  and  gentleness  of 
love  :  "  Finally,  brethren,  farewell,  [literally,  rejoice.]  Be 
perfect,  be  of  good  comfort,  be  of  one  mind,  live  in  peace ; 
and  the  God  of  love  and  peace  shall  be  with  you,"  (2  Cor. 
xiii.  11.)  Such  was  their  apostle!  a  beseecher  "by  the 
meekness  and  gentleness  of  Christ,"  (2  Cor.  x.  1.)  Truly 
this  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  is  itself  a  commen- 
tary throughout  on  that  passage,  "  We  persuade  men  :  but 
are  made  manifest  unto  God,"  (2  Cor.  v.  11.)  "Without 
dissimulation"  indeed  was  the  Apostle's  love,  and  un- 
mixed with  any  effeminacy ;  decided  his  break  with  evil — 
he  abhorred  it ;  firm  his  love  of  good — he  clave  unto  it, 
(Rom.  xii.  9.)  Hardened  sinners  he  "delivered  unto 
Satan,"  (1  Cor.  v.  5 ;  1  Tim.  i.  20 ;)  yet  bore  them  but  the 
more  fervently  upon  his  heart  to  the  saving  of  their  spirit, 
(c£  2  Cor.  ii.  5-11,)  and  charged  Timothy  to  do  the  same, 
(2  Tim.  ii.  25,  26.)  ''0  foolish  Galatians,"  he  exclaims, 
with  energetic  indignation,  "who  hath  bewitched  you, 
that  ye  should  not  obey  the  truth?"  (Gal.  iii.  1.)  Yet  how 
affectionately  does  he  ''beseech"  them  not  to  be  snared 
into  bondage  again  unto  the  "weak  and  beggarly  ele- 
ments." "  Brethren,"  he  says,  "  be  as  I  am ;  for  I  am  as 
ye  are,"  (Gal.  iv.  12.)  And  not  to  shame  them  before  a 
third  person,  he  wrote  to  them,  against  his  custom,  with 
his  "  own  hand,"  a  "large  letter,"  literally,  in  large  letters, 
that  they  might  not  need  a  reader,  thus  seeking  to  please 
them,  (Gal.  vi.  11.)  The  same  desire  is  touchingly  evidenced 
by  his  postscript  "token  in  every  epistle"  which  he  wrote 
by  dictation,  (2  Thess.  iii.  17.)  Sometimes,  as  he  takes  up 
the  pen  to  write  "  the  salutation  by  me  Paul  with  mine 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  167 

own  hand,"  (1  Cor.  xvi.  22,)  lie  is  moved  with  indignation 
when  he  thinks  of  the  false  brethren  among  those  he 
addresses,  and  adds,  "  If  any  man  love  not  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  let  him  be  Anathema,  Maran-atha,"  ere  he  continues, 
"  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you.  My 
love  be  with  you  all  in  Christ  Jesus."  At  other  times  he 
will  feel  his  hand  cramped  by  the  fetters  which  bind  him 
to  the  soldier  who  guards  him,  (Acts  xxviii  16,  20,)  and 
adds  to  ''the  salutation  by  the  hand  of  me  Paul," — ''Ee- 
member  my  bonds,"  (Col.  iv.  18.)  But  he  always  ends  by 
wishing  them  "  grace,"  to  which  at  times  he  adds  a  few 
last  words  of  affectionate  remembrance,  such  as,  "  My  love 
be  with  you  all  in  Christ  Jesus."*  In  the  kindliness  of 
his  friendship  he  does  not  think  it  too  mean  to  watch  with 
a  mother's  tender  care  over  the  health  of  his  young  son 
Timothy :  "  Drink  no  longer  water,  but  use  a  little  wine 
for  thy  stomach's  sake,  and  thine  often  infirmities,"  (1 
Tim.  V.  23.)  With  all  his  freedom  in  Christ  to  enjoin 
Philemon  that  which  is  convenient,  he  will  rather  beseech 
him  for  love's  sake,  (Philem.  viii.  9.)  The  Philippians' 
care  and  liberality  he  acknowledges  in  a  manner  that 
makes  one  feel  that  he  rejoices  in  the  soul  of  the  givers, 
and  accepts  for  their  joy  what  they  so  gladly  give,  (Phil. 
iv.  10,  &c.)  And  now,  one  glance  still  upon  that  saluta- 
tion chapter,  Eom.  xvi.  It  is  fuU  of  gentle  and  affection- 
ate love.  First  he  commends  Phcebe,  the  bearer  of  the 
epistle,  as  his  kind  "  succourer,"  to  the  love  of  the  Eoman 
church.  Next  he  greets  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  and  remem- 
bers with  fervent  gratitude  their  services  in  the  Lord  to 
all  the  churches  of  the  Gentiles.  In  the  remembrance  of 
his  love  lives  Epsenetus  beside  Stephanas,  as  the  ''first- 

*  Cf.  the  introduction  to  the  instructive  work  "  The  Life  and  Epistles 
of  St  Paul,"  by  W.  J.  Conybeare  and  J.  S.  Howson.  London.  1853, 
Vol.  L,  p.  xii. 


168  ST  PAUL. 

fruits  of  Achaia,"  (1  Cor.  xvi.  5.)  Mary's  much  labour 
bestowed  on  him  he  cannot  forget ;  neither  what  Androni- 
cus  and  Junia,  his  kinsmen  and  fellow-prisoners  have  been 
to  him  before  he  was  in  Christ.*  All  are  "  his  beloved," 
yet  only  three  of  them  he  greets  expressly  with  this  epi- 
thet, probably  because  they  most  needed  his  assurance  of 
it.  Of  Amplias,  he  says  specially  that  he  was  worthy  of  his 
love  ''in  the  Lord."  With  ApeUes  ''approved  in  Christ" 
he  joins  them  of  Aristobulus'  household,  and  with  his  kins- 
man Herodion  them  of  J^arcissus'  household — with  poor 
domestics  the  free,  who  were  one  with  them  in  the  Lord. 
Tryphena  and  Tryphosa,  two  female  labourers,  he  greets 
before ;  but  trusts  to  their  modesty  that  they  will  gladly 
join  him  in  saying,  that  she  hath  "  laboured  much  in  the 
Lord."  And  how  tenderly  does  he  express  his  love  in 
saluting  "  Eufus,  chosen  in  the  Lord,  and  his  mother  and 
mine."  Lastly,  he  salutes  two  pairs,  each  of  five,  with 
evident  pleasure  in  their  communion,  and  lets  them  know 
to  their  surprise  that  their  names  obscure  in  the  world  are 
remembered  and  borne  in  his  heart.  "  With  an  holy  kiss  " 
he  seals  these  thirty  salutations.  In  this  kindly  manner 
did  the  man  upon  whom  came  daily  "  the  care  of  aU  the 
churches,"  (2  Cor.  xi.  28,)  which  lay  scattered  over  east 
and  west,  bear  the  single  souls  of  them  mdividually  upon 
his  heart,  with  love's  affectionate  remembrance. 

"  Charity  envieth  not."  Might  ApoUos  be  preferred  to 
him  by  the  fastidious  Corinthians  ?  Paul  grudged  him  not 
that  gift  of  eloquence  himself  lacked,  nor  thought  for  a 
moment  of  suspecting  his  fellow-servant  in  the  Lord  to 
have  had  any  share  in  the  Corinthians'  strife  and  divisions, 

♦  Here  the  author  supposes  Paul  to  have  borne  his  kinsmen's  prayers  for 
him,  before  he  was  in  Christ,  in  grateful  remembrance,  and  does  not  mean 
to  insinuate  that  they  had  been  at  all  directly  instrumental  in  his  conversion, 
which  the  peculiar  and  sudden  manner  of  it  forbids  us  to  think, — Tr. 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  169 

(cf.  1  Cor.  iii.  and  iv.  6.)  Yea,  so  far  was  he  from  any 
feeling  of  jealousy,  that  he  did  all  he  could  to  prevail  on 
Apollos  to  return  to  Corinth,  (1  Cor.  xvi.  12.)  When  he 
learnt  at  Eome  that  some  were  preaching  Christ  even  of 
envy  and  strife,  "supposing" — i.e.,  wishing  by  their  conten- 
tion— "  to  add  affliction  to  his  bonds,"  and  thus  eventually 
to  see  him  shut  oiit  from  all  the  honour  of  evangelical 
preaching,  he  was  so  free  from  ignoble  envy,  that  he  could 
write  :  "  What  then  ?  notwithstanding,  every  way,  whether 
in  pretence,  or  in  truth,  Christ  is  preached ;  and  I  therein 
do  rejoice,  yea,  and  will  rejoice,  (Phil.  i.  15-18.)  An 
envious  Paul,  how  absurd  it  sounds !  No,  the  man  who 
has  transmitted  to  us  the  Lord's  saying,  "It  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  to  receive,"  (Acts  xx.  35,)  and  who  so 
richly  tasted  the  blessedness  of  giving,  could  suffer  no 
"  rottenness  in  his  bones,"  (Pro v.  xiv.  30.) 

"Charity  vaunteth  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up,  doth 
not  behave  itself  unseemly."  This  tricolor  also  belongs 
to  Paul's  heraldry  of  love.  A  pert  and  saucy  boy,  (who,  it 
should  seem,  was  as  well  acquainted  with  the  rod — cf  Heb» 
xii.  9 — as  poor  little  Martin,*)  and  a  bold, forward  youth  Saul 
doubtless  was.  A  rash  temper,  haughty  demeanour,  and 
obstinate,  dogmatical  spirit,  we  may,  without  fear  of 
slander,  ascribe  to  his  unsubdued  and  determined  nature.  \\ 
And  now,  in  how  different  a  light  does  the  character  of  ^ 
"the  man  of  love"  stand  before  us,  even  in  the  smallest 
matters  !  Did  the  obstinacy  of  his  old  Adam  once  shew 
itself  in  the  sharp  contention  he  had  with  Barnabas  about 
Mark?  (Acts.  xv.  37-39,)  this  only  proves  how  tightly 
otherwise  he  held  his  flesh  in  reins  by  the  spirit.  Most 
lovely  does  this  reining  in,  the  moderation,  or  let  me  call 
it  the  holy  collectedness  of  the  man  of  love,  appear  in  his 
character  as  shepherd  tending  the  weak  among  his  flock ; 

*  Luther. 


170  ST  PAUL. 

in  which  character  he  was  best  known  to  the  Corinthians  : 
"  Por  though  ye  have  ten  thousand  instructors  in  Christ, 
yet  have  ye  not  many  fathers ;  for  in  Christ  Jesus  I  have 
begotten  you  through  the  Gospel.  AVlierefore  I  beseech 
you,  be  ye  followers  of  me,"  (1  Cor.  iv.  15,  16.)  He  had 
the  shepherd's  heart  and  kindly  care  of  a  Jacob  :  "  My 
Lord  knoweth  that  the  children  are  tender,  and  the  flocks 
and  herds  with  young  are  with  me ;  and  if  men  should 
overdrive  them  one  day,  all  the  flock  will  die,"  (Gen. 
xxxiii.  13.)  The  parable  of  the  imperceptibly-growing 
seed,  (Mark  iv.  26-29,)  this  the  labourer  in  God's  hus- 
bandry had  apprehended  with  the  sense  of  love,  and  he 
acted  accordingly.  The  unfeigned  humility  of  this  high 
Apostle  is  the  best  comment  on  the  word  ''charity  vaunteth 
not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up."  As  oft  as  he  addresses  his 
flocks — Christ's  flocks — as  "  brethren,"  he  includes  himself 
as  their  fellow-sinner,  and  partaker  with  them  of  the  same 
grace  of  Jesus  Christ.  When  longing  to  impart  to  the 
Eomans  some  spiritual  gift  to  the  end  they  may  be  estab- 
lished, he  at  once  adds  :  "  That  is,  that  I  may  be  comforted 
together  with  you  by  the  mutual  faith  both  of  you  and 
me,"  (Eom.  i.  11,  12  ;)  yea,  he  almost  apologises  for  his 
boldness  in  ^vriting  to  them  :  "  And  I  myself  also  am  per- 
suaded of  you,  my  brethren,  that  ye  also  are  full  of  good- 
ness, filled  with  all  knowledge,  able  also  to  admonish  one 
another.  Nevertheless,  brethren,  I  have  written  the  more 
boldly  unto  you  in  some  sort,  as  putting  you  in  mind, 
because  of  the  grace  that  is  given  to  me  of  God,"  (Eom.  xv. 
14, 15.)  Thus  he  entirely  subjected  his  own  gift  of  grace  to 
preach  the  Word  under  the  grace  of  the  Word  itself,  and  set 
himself  the  example  to  his  brethren  in  walking  after  the  rule, 
that  no  man  should  think  of  himself  more  highly  than  he 
ought  to  think,  but  to  think  soberly,  according  as  God  hath 
dealt  to  every  man  the  measure  of  faith,  (Eom.  xii.  3,)  "  Who 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  171 

then  is  Paul  ? "  he  asks,  jealous  for  God's  honour,  "  and 
who  is  Apollos,  but  ministers  by  whom  ye  believed,  even 
as  the  Lord  gave  to  every  man  ?  I  have  planted,  Apollos 
watered,  but  God  gave  the  increase.  So  then  neither 
is  he  that  planteth  anything,  neither  he  that  watereth ; 
but  God  that  giveth  the  increase,"  (1  Cor.  iii.  5-7.) 
''  Charity  is  not  puffed  up,"  might  especially  remind  the 
Corinthians,  inflated  with  the  conceit  of  their  knowledge, 
of  what  Paul  had  before  said :  "  Knowledge  puffeth  up, 
but  charity  ediiieth,"  (1  Cor.  viii.  1.)  Who  possessed  the 
gift  of  know^ledge  more  then  he  ?  But  he  would  have  the 
weak  and  less-gifted  brethren  to  be  undespised,  and  every- 
where he  used  the  power  Avhich  the  Lord  had  given  him 
"  to  edification,  and  not  to  destruction,"  (2  Cor.  x.  8,  xiii.  10.) 
The  third  property  of  love  also — its  good  grace  and  pro- 
per tact,  which  leads  it  not  to  behave  itself  unseemly — is 
finely  stamped  in  Paul's  character.  Sober  and  honest, 
just  and  true,  gracious  and  edifying,  pure  and  lovely  is 
the  Christian  walk  in  love  to  which  he  so  often  exhorts, 
(Ptom.  xii.  17,  xiii.  13;  Eph.  iv.  29;  Phil.  iv.  8,)  and 
wherein  he  sets  the  example.  A  gracious  and  noble 
demeanour  is  perhaps  the  most  prominent  feature  in  his 
conduct  towards  all  men.  We  may  here  be  reminded  of 
the  magistrates  at  Philippi — the  chiefs  of  Asia  at  Ej)hesus 
— the  chief  captain,  Claudius  Lysias — the  two  governors, 
Felix  and  Festus — King  Agrippa  and  Julius  the  Eoman 
centurion, — all  of  whom  were  forced  to  admire  the  cour- 
teous frankness,  decorum  and  propriety  of  the  ''prisoner"  of 
the  Lord.  Neither  did  his  brotherly  love  behave  itself  un- 
seemly. He  was  far  from  thinking  that  the  intimacy  and 
close  communion  of  brethren  in  Christ  at  all  exempt  them 
from  due  attention  to  proper  deportment,  and  all  that 
is  becoming  in  the  various  relations  of  life.  He  warns 
servants  not  to  despise  their  "believing  masters,"  under 


172  ST  PAUL. 

the  pretence  that  "  tliey  are  brethren,"  (1  Tim.  vi.  2  ;)  and 
with  the  exhortation  to  "  be  kindly  affectioned  one  to 
another  with  brotherly  love/'  he  couples  that  of  "  in  honour 
preferring  one  another,"  (Eom.  xii.  10.)  With  his  sense 
of  laudable  Christian  order  he  deemed  it  essential  to  have 
a  brother  co-ordinated  with  him  for  the  conveyance  of 
the  churches'  gift  to  Jerusalem.  Well  might  he 
have  claimed  their  unconditional  confidence,  but  he  rather 
chose  the  lowlier  and  more  regardful  way,  as  thereby 
"avoiding  this,  that  no  man  should  blame  us  in  this 
abundance  which  is  administered  by  us  :  providing  for 
honest  things,  [i.e.,  having  regard  to  fair  dealing,]  not 
only  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  but  also  in  the  sight  of 
men,"  (2  Cor.  viii.  19-21.) 

Charity  "  seeketh  not  her  own," — not  her  pleasure,  not 
her  reward,  not  her  honour,  not  her  liberty,  yea,  we  dare 
add,  not  her  salvation ;  for  altoejether  she  does  not  seek  her 
own  advantage,  but  that  of  others, — "love  is  life  in 
others."  This  heavenly  flower — disinterestedness — is  the 
queen  in  the  garden  of  love,  and  all  others  emit  their  sweet 
odours  perfumed  by  hers.  Therefore  we  should  have  to 
tell  the  life  of  Paul  over  again,  as  that  of  a  man  in  Christ, 
would  we  rightly  estimate  his  disinterested,  self-sacrificing 
love.  The  Corinthians  indeed,  in  reading  these  words, 
"  charity  seeketh  not  her  own,"  must  have  seen  the  man 
of  love  stand  bodily  before  their  eyes,  the  man  who  could 
write  to  them, — them  who  had,  alas  !  sought  their  own  in  re- 
lation with  him,  their  truest  friend.  "  Eeceive  us ;  we  have 
wronged  no  man,  we  have  corrupted  no  man,  we  have 
defrauded  no  man" — here  his  affectionate  heart  checks, 
and  at  once  impels  him  to  mitigate  the  gentle  reproach  im- 
plied in  this  self-defence,  by  immediately  adding :  "  I  speak 
not  this  to  condemn  you,  for  I  have  said  before,  that  ye 
are  in  our  hearts"  (he  includes  Timothy  and  Titus)  ''to  die 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  173 

and  live  with  you.  Great  is  my  boldness  of  speech  toward 
you,  great  is  my  glorying  of  you  :  I  am  filled  with  comfort, 
I  am  exceeding  joyful  in  all  our  tribulation/*  (2  Cor.  vii.  2-4.) 
And  what  was  it  that  thus  filled  him  with  comfort,  and 
made  him  so  exceeding  joyful,  even  in  all  his  tribulation  ? 
It  was  the  Corinthians'  godly  sorrow,  and  their  repentance 
to  salvation,  (ib.  ver.  9, 10.)  For  what  else  did  he  seek  by 
them  but  the  salvation  of  their  souls?  ''  I  seek  not  yours, 
but  you,"  he  says  ;  *'  for  the  children  ought  not  to  lay  up 
for  the  parents,  but  the  parents  for  the  children.  And  I 
will  do  more  than  that — ^very  gladly  spend  and  be  sj)ent 
for  you ;  though  the  more  abundantly  I  love  you,  the  less 
I  be  loved."  With  cutting  irony  he  gives  them  to  under- 
stand that  in  one  thing  only  he  had  treated  them  "  inferior 
to  other  churches " — viz.,  in  the  letting  them  feel  the  dis- 
interestedness of  his  love ;  "  forgive  me  this  wrong."  And 
'  then,  with  that  humour  in  which  he  is  fond  at  times  to 
clothe  his  most  solemn  earnest,  (Luther  resembles  him  in 
this,)  he  prevents  their  reply  by  saying,  "But  be  it  so,  I 
did  not  burden  you ;  nevertheless,  being  crafty,  I  caught 
you  with  guile."  Forthwith,  however,  he  assumes  his  usual 
seriousness,  and  adds,  in  deep  earnest,  "We  speak  before 
God  in  Christ ;  but  we  do  all  things,  dearly  beloved,  for 
your  edifying,"  (2  Cor.  xii.  13-19.)  Neither  there  sought 
Paul  his  own,  where,  by  *' glorying"  in  the  abundance  of 
his  labours  and  sufferings,  he  seeks  to  wring  from  the  Co- 
rinthians the  acknowledgment  of  his  apostolical  dignity ; 
yea,  hardly  anywhere  has  he  exercised  greater  self-denial 
than  when  compelled,  by  those  of  whom  he  ought  to  have 
been  commended,  to  "become  a  fool  in  glorying,"  (2  Cor. 
xii.  11.)  Luther  once  drolly  said,  "I  must  be  my  own 
cuckoo."  How  mortifying  that  to  the  selfish,  vainglorious 
Adam !  Or  did  Paul  indeed  seek  his  own  in  the  greatest 
glory  of  his  life — to  stake  and  forsake  all  for  the  work  of 


174  ST  PAUL. 

Christ,  to  win  souls  for  Him?  Did  he  misuse  the  name  of 
Clirist  for  vainglory?  "I  trust  that  ye  shall  know  that 
we  are  not  reprobates,"  (unapproved,)  he  writes  to  the  Co- 
rinthians, (2  Cor.  xiii.  6,)  and  adds,  ''Now  I  pray  to  God 
that  ye  do  no  evil ;  not  that  we  sliould  appear  approved, 
but  that  ye  should  do  that  which  is  honest,  though  we  be 
as  reprobates,"  (without  occasion  to  prove  our  approved- 
ness  by  the  exercise  of  apostolical  discipline.)  In  the  place 
where  he  expresses  his  deep  satisfaction  at  the  Philippians 
''holding  forth  the  word  of  life,  that  I  may  rejoice  in  the 
day  of  Christ,  that  I  have  not  run  in  vain,  neither  laboured 
in  vain"  and  assures  them  of  his  readiness  to  "be  offered" 
with  joy  "upon  the  sacrifice  and  service  of  their  faith," — 
there  his  mind  is  so  purely  bent  upon  the  honour  of  Christ, 
and  the  salvation  of  his  brethren,  that  he  commends 
Timothy  to  them  in  these  words  :  "  For  I  have  no  man 
like-minded,  who  will  naturally  care  for  your  state.  For 
all  seek  their  own,  not  the  things  which  are  Jesus  Christ's," 
(Phil.  ii.  16-21.)  How  he  exhorted  himself  with  that  ex- 
hortation, "  Eejoice  with  them  that  do  rejoice,  and  weep 
with  them  that  weep,"  (Eom.  xii.  1 5,)  has  often  been  noted 
in  our  sketch.  "Who  is  weak,  and  I  am  not  weak?  who 
is  offended,  and  I  burn  not  ?"  (2  Cor.  xi.  29.)  Love  taught 
him  to  lose  himself  in  others,  and  to  suppress  his  sorrow 
in  participation  of  their  welfare  and  joy.  When  at  Rome 
he  heard  of  the  Philippians'  deep  sympathy  with  Epaphro- 
ditus,  who  had  been  "  sick  nigh  unto  death,"  he  deemed  it 
"  necessary  "  speedily  to  send  him  to  them,  "  that,  when 
ye  see  him  again,  ye  may  rejoice,  and  that  I  may  be  the 
less  sorrowful,"  (Phil.  ii.  25-28.)  Still  stronger  than  we 
have  before  heard  him  declare  to  the  Corinthians  his  readi- 
ness to  be  offered  a  sacrifice  for  their  faith,  he  expresses 
himself  in  Eom.  ix.  3,  a  passage  which  can  only  be  under- 
stood by  taking  his  love  to  be  a  reflection  of  Christ's  own. 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  175 

"I  could  wish/'  he  says,  "that  myself  were  accursed 
from  Christ  for  my  brethren,  my  kinsmen  according  to  the 
flesh,"  If  it  were  possible  to  be  accursed  from  Christ  with- 
out being  wicked,  Paul  could  wish  to  forego  the  enjoyment 
of  Christ's  blessed  presence,  and  his  peace  and  joy  in  Him, 
for  the  sake  of  his  unhappy  brethren.  Charity  seeketh 
not  her  own. 

-  ''  Is  not  easily  provoked,  thinketh  no  evil;  rejoiceth  not 
in  iniquity,  but  rejoiceth  in  the  truth."  Who — next  after 
Christ— ^was  ever  fed  with  gall  as  Paul  was  ?  But  that  his 
was  a  love  not  easily  provoked  is  not  shewn  only  by  the 
word  just  quoted,  and  "tlie  truth"  of  which  ''in  Christ" 
— as  well  knowing  what  therewith  he  was  saying — he 
called  upon  the  Holy  Ghost  to  witness,  (Eom.  ix.  1 ;)  but 
his  whole  walk,  from  the  day  of  his  conversion  to  his  ar- 
rival at  Eome,  as  St  Luke  has  spread  it  before  us  in  "  The 
Acts,"  is  one  chain  of  unprovoked  and  indestructible  love 
to  even  his  bitterest  enemies,  the  unbelieving  Jews.  We 
have  edified  ourselves  by  it,  when  considering  Paul,  "  the 
labourer,"  in  his  gleaning  of  the  Jewish  vineyard ;  and  no 
less  in  Paul,  "  the  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ,"  bound  for  the 
hope  of  Israel.  I  have  read  of  a  Christian  who  had  brought 
his  violent,  choleric  temper  so  completely  into  subjection 
to  the  spirit  of  meekness,  that  at  no  affront  would  he  move 
a  muscle  of  his  face,  but  a  gentle  smile  about  his  mouth 
would  indicate  that  he  was  occupied  in  burying  himself 
with  Jesus.  In  Paul  we  see  this  heroism  of  love  to  a  de- 
gree which  it  might  list  angels  to  behold,  to  the  praise  of 
Jesus  Christ,  whose  follower  he  was.  Not  by  unbelievino- 
Jews  and  "  false  brethren "  only,  but  also  by  ungrateful 
children  and  unfaithful  friends  was  his  love  put  to  the  test ; 
and  Satan,  doubtless,  would  often  enough  stir  up  the  old 
Adam  to  flatter  the  meek  Apostle  into  a  "thinking  of 
evil,"  a  bearing  in  mind,  if  not  resenting,  of  some  expe- 


176  ST  PAUL. 

rienced  injury.  Moses,  by  the  Holy  Gliost,  gives  himself 
this  testimony :  "  Now  the  man  Moses  was  very  meek, 
above  all  the  men  which  were  upon  the  face  of  the  earth," 
(Num.  xii.  3.)  In  Paul's  life  are  similar  traces.  In 
highest  objectivity  he  could  write  of  himself:  ''  Ye  are 
witnesses,  and  God  also,  how  holily,  and  justly,  and  un- 
blameably,  we  behaved  ourselves  among  you  that  believe," 
(1  Thess.  ii.  10.)  But  as  Moses  broke  the  tables  in  "hot 
waxed  anger,"  and  could  both  smite  and  intercede  for  his 
people  at  the  same  time,  (c£  Exod.  xxxii.  19,  &c.,)  so  Paul 
also  gave  ''place  unto  wrath,"  (Eom.  xii.  19,)  be  it  by 
imprecation  over  the  wicked  :  "  The  Lord  reward  him 
according  to  his  works ;"  or  by  deprecation,  in  behaK  of 
weak  and  cross-shy  disciples :  "I  pray  God  that  it  may 
not  be  laid  to  their  charge,"  (2  Tim.  iv.  14, 16.)  A  reflection 
of  Stephen  s  face,  which  once  he  saw  as  that  of  an  angel, 
now  rested  upon  his  own,  softened  by  the  love  of  Christ.  It 
had  indeed  been  but  human,  had  he  felt  a  certain  satis- 
faction in  the  misfortunes  of  the  perverse  Jews ;  but  he 
had  drunk  of  Divine  love,  that  rejoiceth  not  in  iniquity, 
(injustice  and  wrong,)  even  where  this  is  meted  out  to  the 
wicked  by  instrmnents  ordained  for  it.  Therefore  we  find 
him  still  at  Eome,  guarding  himself  against  the  suspicion, 
as  if  he  had  aught  to  accuse  his  nation  of,  (Eom.  xxviii. 
19.)  Alas  !  she  was  accused  enough ;  and  Paul,  with  a 
true  patriot's  pang,  already  saw  the  Eoman  eagles  gather 
to  their  vengeful  repast.  Paul's  love  was  drawn  from 
that  of  Christ,  who,  "  when  He  beheld  the  city,  wept  over 
it,"  (Luke  xix.  41.)  ''  But  rejoiceth  in  the  truth;"  yea,  at 
the  victory  of  truth  the  heart  -of  the  man  of  love  beats 
with  very  joy.  In  the  joy  of  a  holy  love  to  the  Church, 
we  have  seen  him  do  his  work  and  labour  of  love ;  and 
joy  together  with  them  in  the  truth,  was  the  signature  of 
his  Christian  and  apostolic  Kfe.     As  St  John  "the  elder" 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  177 

had  no  greater  joy  than  to  find  his  children  walk  in  truth, 
(2  John  iv.,)  so  likewise  Paul,  the  founder  and  chief  pastor 
of  many  churches,  and  the  ''helper"  of  their  joy  in  all, 
(2  Cor.  i.  24.)  His  whole  heart  leaps  with  joy  when  he 
beholds  the  grace  and  truth  of  the  Gospel  in  the  blessed 
churches  of  his  planting.  "  Therefore,  my  brethren,  dearly 
beloved  and  longed  for,  my  joy  and  crown,  so  stand  fast  in 
the  Lord,  my  dearly  beloved,"  (Phil.  iv.  1.)  "N'ow  we 
live,  if  ye  stand  fast  in  the  Lord.  Por  what  thanks  can 
we  render  to  God  again  for  you,  for  all  the  joy  wherewith 
we  joy  for  your  sakes  before  our  God  ?"  (1  Thess.  iii.  8,  9.) 
Nearly  all  his  letters  he  begins  with  gladsome  thanks  to 
God ;  yea,  an  unceasing  thank-offering  must  have  ascended 
to  heaven  in  the  prayers  and  intercessions  of  this  inde- 
fatigable servant  of  Christ, — "  I  thank  my  God  upon  every 
remembrance  of  you,  always  in  every  prayer  of  mine  for 
you  all,  making  request  with  joy,  for  your  fellowship  in  the 
gospel  from  the  first  day  until  now,"  (Phil.  i.  3-5.)  His 
patient  love  would  care  to  see  the  least  beginnings  in 
Christian  life  fostered  in  the  "  weak"  and  "  feeble-minded," 
yea,  and  the  "unruly"  also;  in  short,  all  the  new  and 
weak  converts  he  would  have  the  brethren  at  Thessalo- 
nica  bear  with  patience,  (1  Thess.  v.  14.)  Por  wherever  a 
congregation  was  gathered  in  Christ  around  His  gospel, 
there  he  beheld  "the  rivers  of  water"  flow,  and  trees  both 
great  and  small,  planted  by  the  side  of  them,  grow  up  to 
the  praise  of  the  Lord,  bringing  forth  their  fruit  in  their 
season,  (Ps.  i.  3.)  His  highest  joy,  and  the  one  which 
nearest  resembled  that  of  the  Good  Shepherd  hunself,  we 
see  the  loving  pastor  evince  on  the  return  of  some  stray 
sheep  to  the  fold.  Pive  times  he  expresses  his  joy  over 
the  godly  sorrowful  in  that  precious  chapter,  2  Cor.  vii. 
Like  wave  upon  wave,  it  rushes  along  from  his  overflowing 
heart  in   the  fourth  verse, — *' Great  is   my  boldness   of 


178  ST  PAUL. 

speech  toward  you,  great  is  my  glorying  of  you  :  I  am 
filled  with  comfort,  I  am  exceeding  joyful  in  all  our  tribu- 
lation." With  that  love  which  "  rejoiceth  in  the  truth"  did 
he  bear  the  individual  souls  of  his  numerous  congregations 
in  his  heart.  ''  I  have  you  in  my  heart,"  he  says  to  his  be- 
loved Philippians,  (chap.  i.  7 ;)  and  to  the  Corinthians  in  the 
chapter  just  referred  to,  (ver.  3,)  "  Ye  are  m  our  hearts  to 
die  and  live  with  you."  Every  progress,  every  important 
turning-point  in  his  labours,  he  communicates  to  them, 
while  his  love  believes  that  his  joy  is  theirs  also ;  as,  on 
the  other  hand,  whatever  happened  to  them,  both  in  good 
days  and  evil,  found  in  hun  always  a  ready  echo,  either  of 
inmost  joy  or  heartfelt  sympathy, — ''  Whether  one  mem- 
ber suffer,  all  the  members  suffer  with  it ;  or  one  member 
be  honoured,  all  the  members  rejoice  with  it,"  (1  Cor.  xii. 
26.)  Such  is  the  Church  of  Christ,  and  such  was  Paul 
her  member — a  true  "  Churchman,"  wdiose  life  was  organic 
with  hers.  But  this  will  be  the  subject  for  another — the 
last — chapter. 

Now  for  love's  fourfold  triumph  sung  by  Paul : — She 
"  beareth  all  things,  believeth  all  things,  hopeth  all  things, 
endureth  all  things."  Love  is  unconquerable.  "Set  me 
as  a  seal  upon  thine  heart,  as  a  seal  upon  thine  arm  :  for 
love  is  strong  as  death,"  (Cant.  viii.  6.)  What  shall  quench 
her  flame  ?  Loads  of  trouble  ?  she  beareth  all  things. 
Distrust  and  suspicion?  she  believeth  all  things.  The 
headstrong  and  maliciously  perverse  ?  she  hopeth  all  things. 
The  enmity  and  persecution  of  the  wicked  ?  she  endureth 
all  things.  Beloved  reader,  thou  hast  found  in  this  sketch 
many  traits  already  of  this  fourfold  conquerous  love  in 
Paul's  soul.  Yet  grudge  not  the  pains  of  looking  at  the 
man  of  love  once  more,  as  in  the  garden  of  love  he 
stands  clad  in  the  "arms"  of  these  four  flower-de-luces. 
Had  the  Galatians  exhausted  his  painstaking  and  pains- 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  179 

bearing  love  ?  Well  miglit  he,  with  ''  the  marks  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  in  his  body/'  demand  of  them  henceforth  to 
trouble  him  no  more.  Yet,  that  he  held  them  firm  in 
love's  embrace,  willing  to  cover  with  the  mantle  of  love 
all  their  follies  and  declensions,  if  they  would  but  man 
their  souls  to  a  return  to  Christ,  they  could  plainly  read 
between  the  lines  of  even  his  sharpest  reproof, — "  I  desire 
to  be  present  with  you  now,  and  to  change  my  voice ;  for 
I  stand  in  doubt  of  you,"  (Gal.  iv.  20.)  He  longed  to  be 
present,  and  to  speak  with  them,  like  a  mother,  in  tender 
love,  upbraiding  her  naughty  children.  In  the  last  word 
still  of  this  epistle  of  sorrow,  he  unfolds  his  love  that 
beareth  all  things,  and  will  not  quit  her  hold  of  a  single 
soul, — "  Brethren,  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be 
with  your  spirit.  Amen."  Or  did  his  faith  in  the  Corin- 
thians give  way  because  there  were  heretics  among  them, 
that  had  wxll-nigh  succeeded  in  estranging  from  him  and 
Christ's  Gospel  this  beloved  flock,  the  seal  of  his  apostle- 
ship  ?  (1  Cor.  ix.  1,  &c.)  "  There  must  be  heresies  among 
you,"  he  writes,  ''  that  they  which  are  approved  may  be 
made  manifest  among  you,"  (1  Cor.  xi.  19.)  In  both 
epistles  to  them  that  inventive  love,  which  seeks  to  turn 
everything  to  the  best,  and  therefore  beareth  and  believeth 
all  things,  shines  through  every  page.  With  an  ingenuity 
and  delicacy  which  only  love  inspires,  he  catches  at  every 
chord  of  their  heart, — "  I  speak  as  to  wise  men;  judge  ye 
what  I  say,"  (1  Cor.  x.  15 ;  cf.  xi.  2,) — in  order  to  draw  them 
out  of  the  entanglements  of  falsehood  to  integrity  and  up- 
rightness ;  and  boldly  he  believes  that  the  fire  of  the  last 
day,  though  it  will  consume  every  carnal  superstructure 
reared  by  them,  yet  shall  spare  the  believers'  own  lives, 
if  built  on  Jesus  Christ,  the  only  foundation,  (1  Cor.  iii. 
11-15.)  His  hope  of  them  is  steadfast,  (2  Cor.  i.  7,)  and 
he  rejoices  that  he  has  confidence  in  them  in  all  things. 


180  ST  PAUL. 

(2  Cor.  vii.  16.)  Or  did  the  Jews  mock  his  hope  for  them 
away  from  his  heart  ?  He  indeed  mourns  with  David  that 
their  full  table  of  grace  is  made  a  snare  unto  them  "  alway  " 
(Eom.  xi.  9,  10 ;)  yet  he  will  not  permit  this  to  wrest  from 
him  his  heart's  desire  and  prayer  to  God  that  they  may  be 
saved,  (Rom.  x.  1.)  And  though  "  blindness  in  part  hath 
happened  to  Israel/'  yet  his  love  is  bold  enough  to  hope  for 
God's  "mercy  upon  all/'  (Rom.  xi.  31,  32.)  Or,  lastly,  did 
he  faint  or  grow  impatient  under  the  trials  of  unceasing 
persecutions ;  and  the  more,  when  even  "  all  they  in  Asia 
turned  away"  from  him?  (2  Tim.  i.  15.)  Nay,  in  face 
of  his  martyrdom,  he  puts  Timothy  in  mind  of  his  "  doc- 
trine, manner  of  life,  purpose,  faith,  long-suffering,  charity, 
patience,"  under  all  ''persecutions"  and  "afflictions," 
which  came  unto  him  "at  Antioch,  at  Iconium,  at  Lystra/' 
adding, — "but  what  persecutions  I  endured,  out  of  them  all 
the  Lord  delivered  me,"  (2  Tim.  iii.  10,  11.)  And,  finally,  to 
stir  up  the  same  hope  and  patient  love  in  his  beloved  son, 
that  made  him  endure  them,  he  charges  him  to  "  remem- 
ber that  Jesus  Christ,  of  the  seed  of  David,  was  raised  from 
the  dead,  according  to  my  gospel :  wherein  I  suffer  trouble 
as  an  evil-doer,  even  unto  bonds  ;  but  the  word  of  God  is 
not  bound.  Therefore  I  endure  all  things  for  the  elect's 
sakes,  that  they  may  also  obtain  the  salvation  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus  with  eternal  glory,"  (2  Tim.  ii.  8-10.) 

Nor  could  such  love  fail  to  beget  love.  Paul  certainly 
was  also  loved  again  of  many.  St  Luke,  who  best  under- 
stood and  loved  him,  remained  faithful  to  him  to  the  very 
last,  (2  Tim.  iv.  11.)  Witli  unswerving  devotion,  too,  did 
Silas  justify  his  confidence  in  him ;  and  with  unflinching 
fidelity  and  filial  trust  did  Timothy  and  Titus  remain  at- 
tached to  him.  Aquila  and  Priscilla,  Jason,  Aristarchus, 
Epaphroditus,  Clement,  with  many  others  his   fellow-la- 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  181 

bourers,  "whose  names  " — like  that  of  his  Philippian  ''  true 
yoke-feUow  "—"  are  in  the  book  of  life,"  (Phil.  iv.  3,)  loved 
him  more  than  their  own  lives ;  Epaphras,  Tychicus,  and 
many  others,  also  were  his  "  fellow-servants  in  the  Lord," 
(cf.  Col.  iv.  7,  &c.)  In  nearly  all  his  epistles  he  speaks 
with  fond  and  grateful  remembrance  of  brethren  that  love 
him  in  the  faith,  (Tit.  iii.  15.)  "  Comfort,"  ''refresh,"  " re- 
joice," and  ''  fill  with  joy,"  are  his  fond  expressions  when 
speaking  of  the  love  of  his  brethren.  Therefore  we  find 
him  in  all  epistles,  from  first  to  last,  filled  with  "great 
desire  to  see  the  face  "  of  those  that  loved  him,  (Phil.  i.  8  ; 
1  Thess.  ii.  17;  2  Tim.  i.  4,  iv.  9.)  Yea,  the  love  of  his 
children  in  Christ  was  his  continual  feast,  and  a  foretaste 
of  his  heavenly  joy.  Think  of  his  departure  from  Miletus! 
The  Ephesians'  prayers  and  tears,  the  blessings  and  salu- 
tations of  peace  of  all  his  congregations,  accompanied  him 
wherever  he  went.  Their  ''  much  "  love  well-nigh  broke 
his  heart.  Oh,  he  was  suceptible  of  loA^e  !  "  As  an  angel  of 
God,  even  as  Christ  Jesus,  ye  received  me,"  he  recalls  with 
sad  remembrance  to  the  memory  of  the  Galatians.  ''  Where 
is  then  the  blessedness  ye  spake  of  ?  for  I  bear  you  record, 
that,  if  it  had  been  possible,  ye  would  have  plucked  out 
your  eyes  and  have  given  them  to  me,"  (Gal.  iv.  14,  15.) 
But  because  to  give  is  more  blessed  than  to  receive,  he  was 
indeed  more  blessed  in  the  love  he  felt  than  in  that  he  in- 
spired. 

Together  with  his  assurance  of  salvation  by  faith,  and 
the  joy  of  his  heirship  in  hope,  Paul  possessed  the  glory  of 
love,  which  goes  forth  unchanged  unto  eternal  joys,  because 
she  is  heavenly  life  already  on  earth.  "  Charity  never 
faileth."  When  prophecies  shall  ''  fail,"  through  their  final 
accomplishment;  when  tongues  shall  "cease,"  in  the  har- 
monious lan^uasre  of  all  inhabitants  of  the  Xew  Jerusalem  ; 


182  ST  PAUL. 

when  knowledge  which  is  in  part  shall  "  vanish  away/'  in 
that  which  is  perfect, — even  then  charity  shall  not  fail; 
she  will  be  the  light  of  joy  in  the  eye  of  knowledge,  the 
sweetly  moved  heart  in  the  voice  of  heavenly  tongues.  She 
will  then  be  manifested  in  her  unchangeable  Divine  nature ; 
freed  from  all  stains  of  the  flesh,  and  every  haze  of  sin,  she 
will  shine  forth  in  spotless  lustre  and  imperishable  beauty. 
He  that  sits  on  the  throne  of  glory,  Jesus  Christ,  is  all  love. 
Irradiated  by  His,  that  of  the  redeemed  will  blaze  in  efful- 
gent transparency  ;  our  great  Prototype's  will  be  imaged  in 
theirs,  and  all  rays  centre  in  one  luminous  picture  of  love. 
The  "  beloved  of  God  "  are  loved  with  an  eternal  love,  for 
"  their  names  are  wTitten  in  the  book  of  life,"  in  the  heart 
of  God  and  of  the  Lamb,  the  First-born  among  many 
brethren,  wdio  unceasingly  exercises  in  the  heavenly  sanc- 
tuary the  work  of  perfect  brotherly  love.  There  we  shall 
also  meet  our  Paul,  to  love  him  for  ever.  The  unity  of  the 
Church  there  and  here — this  militant,  that  triumphant;  of 
those  walking  still  by  faith  in  hope,  and  those  living  in 
visible  glory — has  its  seal  and  pledge  in  the  sj)irit  of  love, 
which  never  faileth.  ''And  now  abideth  faith,  hope, 
charity,  these  three ;  but  the  greatest  of  these  is  charity." 
Augustine  says  in  his  "  Soliloquies  : " — "  How  should  faith 
still  have  place,  where  the  things  believed  in  are  seen  ?  how 
hope,  where  the  things  hoped  for  are  possessed  ?  Love, 
however,  shall  not  only  lose  naught,  but  enter  into  her  own 
fulness ;  for  even  in  beholding  yonder  the  only  true  and 
real  Beauty,  she  will  remain  what  she  is,  and  increase  her 
being ;  yea,  if  she  kept  not  unceasingly  her  eye  open  to  the 
highest  delight,  she  could  not  remain  in  her  most  blessed 
vision."  "  Be  ye  followers  of  me,  as  I  also  am  of  Christ," 
is  Paul's  word  to  the  Church,  and  to  us  all.  So  help  us 
God !     Amen. 


THE  MAN  OF  LOVE.  183 

Come,  thou  Spirit  of  pure  Love, 
Who  dost  forth  from  God  proceed ; 
Never  from  my  heart  remove, 
Let  me  all  thy  impulse  heed. 
All  that  seeks  self-profit  first, 
Eather  than  another's  good — 
Whether  foe  or  link'd  in  blood — 
Let  me  hold  with  Paul  accurst ; 
And  my  heart  henceforward  be 
Only  ruled,  0  Love,  by  thee  ! 


X. 

THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHUECH. 

"  That  thou  mayest  know  how  thou  oughtest  to  behave  thyself  in  the 
house  of  God,  which  is  the  church  of  the  living  God,  the  pUlar  and 
ground  of  the  truth." — 1  Tim.  iii.  15. 

It  is  remarkable  that  the  false  witnesses  accusing  Jesus 
before  the  council  brought  forth  just  this  accusation, — "We 
have  heard  Him  say,  I  will  destroy  this  temple  that  is  made 
with  hands,  and  within  three  days  I  will  build  another 
made  without  hands,"  (Mark  xiv.  58.)  It  shews  us  that  the 
holy  enigma,  written  over  the  portal  of  Christ's  public  entry 
upon  His  prophetic  ofi&ce,  (John  ii.  19,)  had  stung  the 
carnal  Jews  to  their  very  heart,  and  ever  remained  a  thorn 
in  their  eyes.  His  first  confessing  martyr,  Stephen,  saw 
the  same  bitter.  Temple-proud  spirit  of  the  Pharisees  rise 
against  him,  as  he  bore  witness  for  the  true  "  house  of  God" 
— the  Church  of  Christ.  And  here  is  the  point  where  the 
grace  of  Jesus  Christ  met  Paul,  to  reveal  before  his  unveiled 
eyes  the  glorious  character  of  Christ's  Church,  and  to  make 
that  man  of  him  whose  Christian  excellence  is  summed  up 
in  calling  him  "  the  man  of  the  Church."  No  sooner  had 
he  known  Jesus  Christ,  the  crucified  and  risen  Saviour, 
than  it  was  all  over  with  his  knowing  any  man — yea,  were 
it  even  the  man  Christ — after  the  flesh,  (2  Cor.  v.  16.) 
Before  the  temple  of  the  body  of  Christ  he  saw  Zion's 
temple  of  stone  grow  pale.  Nevertheless,  the  Old  Testa- 
ment house  of  God,  the  honour  of  wliich  Stephen  had  surely 
left  untouched,  had  become  no  lie  with  Paul,  but,  contrari- 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  185 

wise,  a  reality  in  Christ.  There  "the  shadow  of  good 
things  to  come,"  which  the  coming  Christ  cast  before  Him 
into  Israel,  the  people  of  promise ;  here  the  substance  of 
the  "good  things  "  themselves  in  Christ,  (Col.  ii.  17;  Heb. 
viii.  5,  X.  1.)  Therefore  the  New  Testament  Church  was 
to  him  the  unveiled  Israel,  receiving  into  her  bosom  the 
fulness  of  the  Gentiles,  (Eom.  xi.  25,  26,)  "the  Israel  of 
God,"  (Gal.  vi.  16,)  the  replenished  or  fully  realised  "con- 
gregation of  the  Lord" — ^to  wit,  the  New  Testament 
Ecclesia  is  synonymous  with  the  Old  Testament  Bahal — 
which  has  the  Lord  for  her  inheritance,  and  is  again,  on 
her  part,  the  Lord's  inheritance.  As  such  Paul  constantly 
views  the  Church  of  Christ,  both  in  contrast  with  the  car- 
nal Israel,  (1  Cor.  x.  16-18,)  and  as  the  people  of  the  Spirit, 
come  into  the  inheritance  of  the  holy  people  of  Israel, 
(Eph.  i.  10,  11.)  "  The  ends  of  the  world  "  (1  Cor.  x.  11) 
are  come  upon  them  that  are  of  the  faith  of  Israel ;  and  it 
was  by  losing  himself  in  these  "  ends  "  that  the  Apostle 
found  all  his  thoughts  so  richly  redound  to  the  praise  of  the 
Triune  God  and  His  "  unspeakable  gift,"  (2  Cor.  ix.  1 5.) 

"Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  me?"  It  was  from 
this  "  me  "  that  Paul  took  the  key  which  opened  to  him 
the  "  great  mystery  concerning  Christ  and  the  Church," 
(Eph.  V.  32.)  In  Christ  dweUeth  ''all  fukiess,"  (Col.  i. 
19,)  and  what  was  by  figure  intrusted  to  the  people  of 
Israel,  among  whom  God  dwelt,  (2  Cor.  vi.  16,)  that  is  in 
full  grace  and  truth  imparted  to  the  Church  of  Christ, 
"  which  is  His  body,  the  fulness  of  Him  that  filleth  all  in 
all,"  (Eph.  i.  23.)  All  things  in  heaven  and  earth  have 
been  created  by  Him  and  for  Him,  (Col.  i.  16,)  and  He 
filleth  all  things  with  the  breath  of  His  glorious  power;  and 
therefore  needeth  indeed  no  one  for  the  consummation  of 
His  glory.  But  this  is  the  mystery  of  His  love,  that  He 
receives  the   congregation  of  His  believing  people  into  a 


186  ST  PAUL. 

communion  of  good  with  Him,  and  makes  them  what  He 
is — He  the  fulness  of  God,  they  the  fulness  of  Christ,  (1  Cor. 
iii.  23;)  for  so  He  is  connected  with  them  as  the  head  with 
its  body.  By  Hii^  vicarious  death  and  resurrection  He 
has  become  the  head  of  His  body,  (Col.  i.  18,)  and  from 
Him,  as  the  head,  the  whole  body,  by  joints  and  bands 
compacted  and  knit  together  into  one,  "  increaseth  with 
the  increase  of  God,"  (Col.  ii.  19 ;  Eph.  iv.  16.)  The  union 
of  the  sovereign  Head  with  His  subordinate  members  has 
its  visible  reflex  in  the  matrimonial  union  of  husband  and 
wife,  (Eph.  V.  22,  &c.)  Yea,  Paul  joins  head  and  members 
so  intimately  together  into  one  whole,  that  of  the  body  of 
the  Church  he  says,  "  So  also  is  Christ,"  (1  Cor.  xii.  12,) — 
after  the  manner  as  the  holy  prophets  call  Christ  the  King 
of  Israel,  also  simply  *^  Israel,''  (cf  Isa.  xlix.  3,) — and  as 
what  David  sings,  "  I  will  give  thanks  unto  Thee,  0  Lord, 
among  the  heathen,  and  sing  praises  unto  Thy  name,"  (Ps. 
xviii.  49,)  is  fulfilled  in  the  Church  of  the  Gospel,  (Eom.  xv. 
9;  cf  Acts  xiii.  47.) 

St  Paul  saw  Jesus  Christ  in  His  heavenly  glory.  ^Vhere- 
in  then  consists  the  union  of  the  head  in  heaven  and  the 
body  on  earth  ?  He  became  conscious  of  this  mystery 
when,  at  his  baptism  by  Ananias,  he  was  filled  with  the 
Holy  Ghost.  "He -that  is  joined  unto  the  Lord  is  one 
spirit "  with  Him,  as  the  wife  is  one  flesh  with  her  hus- 
band. A  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  body  of  every 
believer,  (1  Cor.  vi.  17,  &c.,)  and  God's  temple  are  all 
believers  together,  because  the  Spirit  of  God  dwelleth  in 
them,  (1  Cor.  iii.  16  ;  2  Cor.  vi.  16 ;)  they — all  that  are  in 
Christ  Jesus — grow  together  unto  an  holy  temple  in  the 
Lord  :  in  whom  they  are  also  builded  together  for  an  hab- 
itation of  God  through  the  Spirit,  (Eph.  ii.  21-22.)  Unity 
of  the  Spirit  is  the  unity  of  the  members,  both  with  their 
Head  and  with  one  another,  (Eph.  iv.  3  ;)  for  the  presence 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  187 

of  the  Lord  in  His  Church  is  the  presence  of  the  Spirit,  (2 
Cor.  iii.  17.)  But  as  Paul  himself  received  not  the  Holy 
Ghost  without  outward  means,  nor  was  otherwise  kept  by 
Him  with  Christ  in  the  one  true  faith,  but  in  the  Church,  in 
which  the  Spirit  dwells  and  works ;  so  he  also  now  teaches 
that  the  Lord  both  effects  and  preserves  the  organic  life  of 
the  body  with  its  head  by  means  of  "joints  and  bands,"  min- 
istering nourishment  to  it.  How  thoroughly  far  ''the  man 
of  faith  "  and  of  the  Spirit  was  from  all  fanaticism  we  have 
already  seen,  when  viewing  him  in  that  character,  (cf  Chap. 
VII.)  Whereupon,  then,  does  he  ground  the  bridal  dignity 
of  the  Church  ?  Answer  :  "  Christ  loved  the  Church,  and 
gave  Himself  for  it ;  that  He  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  it 
with  the  washing  of  water  by  the  word,  that  He  might 
present  it  to  Himself  a  glorious  Church,"  (Eph.  v.  25-27.) 
But  whereby  is  the  body  of  Christ  built  ?  By  the  Spirit 
are  we  all  baptized  into  one  body,  whether  we  be  Jews  or 
Gentiles,  whether  we  be  bond  or  free ;  and  have  been  all 
made  to  drink  into  one  Spirit,  (1  Cor.  xii.  13  ;  cf.  the  Old 
Test,  figure  of  this  in  1  Cor.  x.  1-4.)  In  fine,  he  that  re- 
ceives the  Spirit,  receives  Him  "  by  the  hearing  of  faith," 
(Gal.  iii.  2.)  It  is  the  gracious  work  of  the  Spirit,  in  the 
audible  word  of  preaching  and  the  visible  word  of  the  sacra- 
ment, which  begets  and  nourishes  the  Church,  affiances 
her  to  Christ,  and  presents  her  to  Him  in  bridal  glory. 

In  his  circular  epistle  to  the  congregations  in  Ephesus 
and  around  it,  Avherein  Paul  more  especially  unfolds  the 
mystery  of  the  Church,  at  the  building  up  and  bodily  ex- 
hibition of  which  in  the  whole  world  he  labours,  we  read 
in  the  fourth  chapter  how  "  the  edifying  of  the  body  of 
Christ"  is  accomj)lished  by  Christ's  Spirit  through  the 
Word  and  Sacrament.  He  that  ascended  up  far  above  aU 
heavens,  that  He  might  fill  all  things  with  His  divinely- 
human  glory,  does  by  His  grace  make  Himself  palpably 


188  ST  PAUL. 

manifest  in  His  Church  on  eartli  by  means  of  the  word  of 
grace  administered  in  His  name  by  ministers  of  the  Word. 
"And  He  gave  some  apostles,  and  some  prophets,  and 
some  evangelists,  and  some  pastors  and  teachers,  for  the 
perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for 
the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ."  Who  could  have 
borne  richer  testimony  to  these  gifts  which  the  risen  and 
ascended  Saviour  "gave  unto  men"  than  the  Apostle  Paul, 
who  was  himself  a  right  royal  gift  from  the  immediate 
hand  of  royalty  ?  Yet,  deeply  penetrated  as  he  was  with 
the  peculiar  costliness  of  the  apostolic  office  intrusted  to 
him  "  for  obedience  to  the  faith  among  all  nations,"  (Eom. 
i.  5,  xvi.  25,  26,)  we,  nevertheless,  find  him  ever  intent  on 
emphasising  and  giving  prominence  to  the  essential  unity 
of  the  "ministry  of  the  New  Testament,"  the  "ministry  of 
the  Spirit,"  (2  Cor.  iii.,)  and  the  "  ministry  of  reconcilia- 
tion," (2  Cor.  V.  18.)  Therefore,  also,  he  loves  best  to  speak 
by  "we"  and  "us,''  where  he  speaks  of  the  office  of  "min- 
isters "  (under- workmen)  "  of  Christ  and  stewards  of  the 
mysteries  of  God,"  (1  Cor.  iv.  1 ;)  therefore,  too,  he  associ- 
ates his  name  in  the  introductory  salutations  of  nearly  all 
epistles  with  some  of  his  colleagues — not  only  Timothy 
(often)  and  Silas  (twice),  but  also  his  humble  brother  Sos- 
thenes,  (1  Cor.  i.  1;)  therefore  he  says,  (2  Cor.  v.  20,) 
"we  are  ambassadors  for  Christ,"  and  thus  colleagues  himr 
self  with  all  other  "  messengers,"  like  Peter  and  John  with 
their  elders,  (1  Pet.  v.  1 ;  2  and  3  John  i.)  "  There  are  diver- 
sities of  gifts,  but  the  same  Spirit;  and  there  are  differences 
of  administrations,  but  the  same  Lord,"  (1  Cor.  xii.  4,  5,) 
Jesus  Christ,  who  in  the  apostolic  office,  to  which  He  has 
called  him,  as  well  as  the  twelve,  has  planted  the  root  to 
all  offices  in  the  Church,  whereby  and  wherein  the  Holy 
Ghost  works  with  His  manifold  gifts  "  to  the  edifying  of 
the  body  of  Christ."     As  in  the  manifold  branches  of  a 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  189 

tree  one  and  the  same  tree  is  exhibited,  so  in  the  various 
ministerial  offices  one  and  the  same  ministry,  ordained  and 
instituted  by  Christ  for  His  Church,  and  therefore  of 
Divine  mandate  and  right,  though  in  its  historical  develop- 
ment, after  human  right  and  ecclesiastical  order,  it  is  so,  as 
it  is.  In  the  passage  already  quoted  (Eph.  iv.)  the  Apostle 
dissects  the  ministerial  office  into  several  distinct  functions ; 
for  what  he  means  to  say  is,  that  the  "  manifold  gifts  and 
differences  of  administration  of  the  one  Lord  "  do  not  hm- 
der  but  further  the  unity  of  the  Church,  (''  unto  every  one 
of  us  is  given  grace,  according  to  the  measure  of  the  gift  of 
Christ;")  but  forthwith  he  comprehends  again  apostles, 
prophets,  evangelists,  pastors,  and  teachers,  as  all  set  for 
"the  work  of  the  ministry,"  whose  every  object  and  end  is 
the  same,  the  ''perfecting  of  the  saints," the  "edifying  of 
the  body  of  Christ."  The  parallel  passage  to  this  (1  Cor. 
xii.  28)  presents  us  the  same  blessed  tree,  as  it  shoots 
forth  from  the  apostolic  root  into  its  vari6us  branches  of 
gifts  and  offices.  "  God  hath  get  some  in  the  Church,  first, 
apostles;  secondarily,  prophets;  thirdly,  teachers;  after  that 
miracles;  then  gifts  of  healings,  helps,  governments,"  (i.e., 
working  and  administrative  talents  and  operations,)  "  di- 
versities of  tongues."  The  apostles,  and  pre-eminently  Paul, 
stood  there  in  the  fulness  of  all  gifts,  wherewith  the  Holy 
Ghost  furnishes  and  adorns  the  Church,  and  we  see  them 
executing  the  ''  whole  work  of  the  ministry,"  for  the  which, 
in  their  several  capacities,  prophets,  evangelists,  pastors, 
teachers,  and  other  office-bearers  are  appointed.  Thus — 
as  being  primarily  ordained  for  ''the  ministry  of  the 
word,"  (Acts  vi.  4,)  called  and  gifted  for  the  guidance  of  the 
entire  service  done  in  and  through  the  word  of  the  Gospel 
to  the  edifying  of  the  Church — the  apostles  are,  to  borrow 
a  current  phrase,  the  "princes  of  the  Church;"  and  set  as 
princes  indeed  they  are  to  the  Church  of  all  times,  for 


190  ST  PAUL. 

tlieir  word  is  the  fountain  of  all  evangelical  preacliing ;  and 
by  it  shall  be  judged,  not  only  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel, 
but  we  also,  and  all  Gentiles.  And  this  princely  oJB&ce 
and  prerogative  is  theirs  exclusively.  ''Built  upon  the 
foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,"  the  whole  build- 
ing (of  the  Church)  fitly  framed  together,  rests  upon  Jesus 
Christ  as  the  "  chief  corner-stone,"  upon  whom  the  apostles 
were  grounded  first,  (E]3h.  ii.  20.)  But  their  followers  in 
the  ministry  are  all  that  are  ordained  to  officiate  in  the 
Church,  provided  it  be  the  Apostolic  Word  which  they 
minister.  The  Lord  continues  the  work  He  has  begun, 
and  in  the  way  He  began  it,  when  appointing  the  first- 
fruits  of  His  Church  to  be  the  first  to  minister  in  it,  breath- 
ing on  them  with  the  Spirit  of  His  mouth,  in  order  that, 
by  their  word,  filled  with  the  Spirit,  they  might  dispense 
the  Church's  treasures,  foremost  of  which  stands  the  for- 
giveness of  sins  to  believers  in  Christ's  name,  while  by  the 
same  word  they  are  retained  to  unbelievers  for  judgment ; 
whereunto  Christ  came  into  the  world,  (John  xx.  21-23, 
ix.  39,  xii.  47.)  Therefore  we  have  found  Paul  not  only 
active  in  the  ministry  of  the  word,  but  have  also  seen  him 
deem  it  part  of  his  ofiice  to  "  ordain  them  elders  in  every 
church,"  (Acts  xiv.  23,)  of  and  to  whom  he  says,  ''  The 
Holy  Ghost  hath  made  you  overseers  to  feed  the  Church  of 
God,"  (Acts  XX.  28.)  In  his  very  first  epistle  he  writes, — 
"We  beseech  you,  brethren,  to  know  them  which  labour 
among  you,  and  are  over  you  in  the  Lord,  and  admonish 
you ;  and  to  esteem  them  very  highly  for  their  work's 
sake,"  (1  Thess.  v.  12, 13.)  And  that  the  Apostle  looks 
upon  all  elders  (overseers,  evangelists,  pastors,  and  teachers) 
as  his  colleagues,  we  may  see  from  his  farewell  address  at 
Miletus,  which  is  throughout  an  exhortation  to  the  elders 
at  Ephesus  to  follow  their  fellow-elder  Paul. 

"  Ministry  "  and  "  diaconate  "  mean  "  service;  "  and  so,  in 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  191 

fact,  does  "  liturgy."  It  is  Paul's  comfort,  as  well  as  boast, 
that  lie  holds  his  ministry  from  the  Lord  Himself.  A 
"liturgus"  of  Jesus  Christ  he  calls  himself,  commissioned 
and  empowered  to  dispense  the  Gospel,  (Eom.  xv.  16.) 
Notwithstanding,  he  accepts  the  Lord's  commission  (1 
Tim.  i.  1)  altogether  in  the  sense  of  ministering  love,  and 
desires  his  of&ce  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  service  w^liich 
Christ,  the  great  "Arch-deacon,"  (Jesus  Christ  was  a 
"  minister  of  the  circumcision,"  Eom.  xv.  8,)  renders  to 
the  Church  through  His  ministering  servants,  (1  Tim.  iv. 
6.)  "We  preach  not  ourselves,  but  Christ  Jesus  the 
Lord;  and  ourselves  your  servants  for  Jesus'  sake,"  (2 
Cor.  iv.  5.)  In  love's  service,  he  is  devoted  to  his  brethren 
for  Christ's  sake,  in  order  that  He  alone — through  the 
service  done  by  commission  under  Him,  and  on  His  part — 
might  be  the  Lord  of  all — a  Lord  who  is  among  His  ser- 
vants, "  as  he  that  serveth,"  (Luk#  xxii.  27 ;  John  xiii.  16.) 
A  labourer  together  with  God  he  is  in  God's  husbandry, 
(1  Cor.  iii.  9,)  who  beseeches  by  him,  (2  Cor.  v.  20.) 
"Wherefore  he  says, — ''Not  for  that  we  have  dominion  over 
your  faith,  but  are  helpers  of  your  joy,"  (2  Cor.  i.  24 ;)  for 
God  lords  none  by  imperious  rule  into  the  joy  of  faith, 
but  courts  men  into  it  by  the  gentle  intreaty  of  His  w^ord 
of  grace;  and  they  that  receive  it  shall  reign  in  God — 
serving  in  liberty,  themselves  lorded  by  none,  but  led  by 
the  Spirit  of  joy,  nourished  and  increased  in  them  by  the 
"  helpers  of  their  joy,"  and  preserved  to  them,  under  God, 
by  them  that  "watch  for  their  souls,"  (Heb.  xiii.  17.) 
"  Who,  then,  is  Paul,  and  who  is  ApoUos,  but  ministers 
by  whom  ye  believed,  even  as  the  Lord  gave  to  every 
man  ? "  (1  Cor.  iii.  6.) 

The  Lord  has  ordained  the  ministry  to  serve  in  the 
Church,  not  to  stand  between  Him  and  the  Church.  Tliey 
(the  ministers)  do  not  float  in  the  air,  but  are  members  and 


192  ST  PAUL. 

integral  parts  of  tlie  Church.  No  trace  or  thought  of  the 
office-bearers  in  the  Church  holding  a  mediatorial  position 
between  God  and  the  Church  can  be  found  in  Paul's 
epistles,  or  any  place  of  the  New  Testament.  In  the 
three  cardinal  passages  (Eom.  xii. ;  1  Cor.  xiii.,  and  Eph. 
iv.)  where  the  Apostle  treats  of  the  different  Church 
offices  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ,  he  speaks  of 
the  gifts  of  the  Lord,  or  the  Spirit,  as  given  to  the  Church, 
as  an  organic  whole,  to  make  use  of  them  by  persons 
whom  she  calls  and  sets  apart  to  serve  her  with  the  re- 
ceived gifts.  And  these  are  made  effectual  by  the  Lord's 
command,  and  under  His  gracious  operation,  in  the  minis- 
try, or  "ministration  of  the  Spirit,"  (2  Cor.  iii.  8;  Gal.  iii. 
5 ;)  which,  according  to  the  necessities  of  the  Church,  is 
unfolded  in  different  offices.  In  so  far  "  the  work  of  the 
ministry "  in  the  Church  emanates  from  her  Head.  But 
the  persons  divinely  designated  by  their  gifts  for  the 
ministry,  and  called  unto  it  by  the  Church,  are  no  "  vicars 
of  Christ,"  no  proxies,  no  substitutes  or  representatives 
of  the  Head ;  but  among  the  members  of  Christ's  body  is 
their  place,  those  members  whom  God  hath  set  severally, 
according  to  His  will,  to  care  for  and  serve  one  another 
in  love. 

For  the  Church  is  the  body  of  Christ,  in  her  capacity  as 
the  congregation  of  believers  who,  through  the  Holy 
Ghost,  are  gathered  together  under  their  Head,  Christ; 
and  for  that  reason  they  are  united  among  one  another  in 
love,  (Eph.  iv.  16.)  The  Church  is  not  constituted  of  a 
number  of  individuals,  who  form  themselves  into  an  asso- 
ciation for  their  spiritual  benefit,  and  keep  together  so  long 
as  it  pleases  them ;  but  the  Church  is  a  family,  the  family 
of  ''  the  household  of  God,"  (Eph.  ii.  19,)  all  begotten  by 
His  Spirit,  and  related  by  one  blood  of  generation.  "  AH" 
are  "  one  in  Christ  Jesus,"  (Gal.  iii.  28.)     We  have  seen 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  193 

in  Paul  "  the  man  of  faith,"  to  whom  especially  was  com- 
municated the  mystery  of  the  incorporation  of  the  Gentiles 
into  "  the  same  body,"  (Eph.  iii.  6 ;)  the  ''labourer  together 
with  God,"  who  devoted  his  whole  life  to  carryiag  into 
effect,  throughout  the  world,  what  Christ  had  shed  His 
precious  blood  for, — the  oneness  of  Jew  and  Gentile,  the 
making  "one  new  man"  out  of  twain,  (Eph.  ii.  15,)  the 
consummation  of  the  true  Israel  of  God.     We  have  seen — 
to  speak  with  Gregory  of  Nazianzum — "  the  herald  of  the 
Gentiles,  who  is  a  captain  of  the  Jews."     As  Christ  is 
both  the  substance  of  Paul's  faith  and  sum-total  of  all  his 
preaching,  so  the  "  fulness  of  Christ " — the    Church — is 
the  fulness  of  his  evangelical  doctrine.     There  is  no  trace 
in  his  apostolical  teaching  that  does  not  bear,  more  or  less 
directly,   on  the  mystery  of  "  Christ   and  the   Church." 
EeconciLiation  and  redemption,  justification  and  life,  pre- 
sent liberty  in  the  Spirit  and  future  glory,  all  the  articles  of 
Christian  faith  and  hope,  coincide  and  meet  together  in  this 
one, — the  apostolic  doctrine  of  the  body  whose  Head  is 
Christ.    Then  only  do  we  rightly  understand  the  man  of  love 
when  we  understand  the  love  wherein  he  walked  as  one 
which  finds  her  object  and  consummation  in  the  Church. 
*'  Edification  "  is  every^vhere  the  end  of  the  love  he  exer- 
cises, and  bids  others  to  exercise,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 
To  unity  in  the  Spirit,  to  oneness  in  confession,  to  peace 
in  life,  he  continually  exhorts  and  stretches  forward  with 
all  his  might.     The  kingdom  of  God  is  righteousness  and 
peace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost;  but  where  this  spiritual 
kingdom  is  established  by  faith,  it  manifests  itself  in  love, 
which  has  regard  to  even  such  outward  things  as  eating 
and  drinking,  and  walks  after  this  rule ;  "  Let  us  therefore 
follow  after  the  things  which  make  for  peace,  and  things 
wherewith  one  may  edify  another,"  (Eom.  xiv.  1 7-19.)    Here 
is  the  place  where  we  have  to  \dew  Paul  as  deputy  of 

N 


194  ST  PAUL. 

the    Antiocliian    cliurch    to    the    synod    at    Jerusalem, 
(Acts  XV.) 

This  journey  of  Paul  to  Jerusalem  was  one  of  love  to 
the  Church;  whereunto  the  Lord,  as  has  been  already 
observed,  strengthened  him  by  a  special  revelation,  (Gal. 
ii.  2 ;)  and  indeed  he  needed  such  strengthening.  For  was 
he  not  jeopardising  his  apostolical  independence  by  taking 
the  appearance  upon  him  as  if  he  subjected  his  gospel- 
preaching  to  the  judgment  of  the  first-called  apostles? 
Would  it  not  be  construed  into  a  tacit  admission  of  their 
superiority  to  him  ?  (Gal.  ii.  6.)  Did  he  not  furnish  the 
followers  of  ''  Cephas,"  who  deemed  him  and  liis  fellow- 
Apostles  of  the  Circumcision  superior  to  the  after-called 
Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  with  weapons,  by  allowing  him- 
self to  be  ruled  by  their  advice  in  any  matter  of  Christian 
doctrine,  life,  and  order  ?  Surely,  had  Paul  held  himself 
for  wise,  he  had  not  gone  up  to  Jerusalem,  or  had  there 
taken  another  position  than  we  find  he  did.  But  Paul 
was  lighted  on  this  church-journey  by  the  word :  "  That 
speaking  the  truth  in  love,  we  may  grow  up  into  Him  in 
aU  things,  which  is  the  Head,  even  Christ,"  (Eph.  iv.  15.) 
An  Antiochian  church  had  just  witnessed  the  accession  of 
four  Gentile  churches  gathered  by  Paul  and  Barnabas, 
and  had  rejoiced  with  them  that  the  Lord  had  "  opened 
the  door  of  faith  unto  the  Gentiles,"  (Acts  xiv.  27.)  But 
in  the  Mother-Church  at  Jerusalem  and  in  Judaea  this  joy 
over  Paul's  blessed  draught  was  of  a  mixed  character. 
The  Apostles  themselves,  and  those  like-minded  with  them, 
would  indeed  be  glad  to  find  Peter's  signally  gracious 
entrance  into  Cornelius'  house  so  richly  confirmed  by 
these  "  wonderful  works  of  God."  But  not  all  were  like- 
minded  with  Peter,  and  John,  and  James,  the  Lord's 
brother.  Some  Judaising  Christians  would  hold  their 
leaven   of  legal   Pharisaic    pride    concealed    under   the 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  195 

cloak  of  Jewish  patriotism  and  an  attachment  to  Israel's 
honoured  rights  and  "  customs,"  (Acts  xxi.  21 ;)  and  there- 
fore wished  to  see  circumcision  and  the  observance  of  the 
law  required  of  the  Gentile  Christians  as  necessary  to 
salvation  besides  their  faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  The  Church's 
treasure,  the  truth  of  the  Gospel,  the  only  apostolic  answer 
to  the  question  :  "  Is  Jesus  Christ  enough  for  justification 
and  the  forgiveness  of  sins  to  every  man  that  believeth  in 
Him?"  was  here  at  stake.  Thanks  be  to  God!  the  holy 
synod,  "  apostles  and  elders,"  which  "  came  together  for  to 
consider  this  matter,"  were  unanimous  in  the  confession, 
to  which  the  Holy  Ghost  gave  utterance  by  Peter's  mouth : 
"  We  believe,  that  through  the  grace  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  we  shall  be  saved,  even  as  they"  (of  the  Gentiles.) 
Now  Paul  and  Barnabas  could  relate  to  the  "  silent " 
multitude  that  God,  through  them,  had  indeed  wrought 
among  the  Gentiles  what  Peter  had  said — viz.,  that  He 
had  ''  purified  their  hearts  by  faith ; "  and  James  elucidated 
and  confirmed  by  the  prophetic  word  the  acceptance  of 
the  Gentiles  as  the  work  of  God.  The  three  pillars,  Peter, 
James,  and  John,  found  Paul's  gospel-edifice  among  the 
heathen  needful  of  no  propping  up  by  additional  doctrines, 
and  gave  Paul  and  Barnabas — over  the  one  and  only 
Gospel—''  the  right  hands  of  feUowship,"  (Gal.  ii.  6-9.) 
They  were  unanimous  in  disowning  and  rejecting  as 
slanderous  the  sinister  reports  whereby  false  brethren 
from  Judsea  had  disturbed  the  church  at  Antioch;  and 
thus  these  peace-disturbers  were  happily  foiled  and  beaten. 
The  holy  synod,  however,  being  gathered  in  the  spirit  of 
truth  and  love,  did  more  than  merely  acknowledge  the 
Christian  liberty  of  the  Gentile  churches.  They  also 
deemed  it  their  duty  to  furnish  them  with  helps  for  the 
maintenance  of  a  laudable  Christian  order  of  life.  The 
ordinances  of  the  Jewish  law,  stiU  observed  by  the  Chris- 


196  .  ST  PAUL. 

tians  gathered  from  among  the  Jews,  were  not  fitting 
barriers  of  church  order  for  the  Gentile  churches,  inas- 
much as  they  had  not  first  to  become  Jews  in  order  to 
become  Christians  as  fully  as  those.  The  synod,  there- 
fore, upon  the  advice  of  James,  supplied  them  with  certain 
rules  for  the  fixing  of  a  wise  discipline  and  fair  Christian 
order  in  the  spirit  of  love,  and  resolved  to  write  to  them 
"that  they  should  abstain  from  pollutions  of  idols," 
(especially  from  "  things  offered  unto  idols,"  1  Cor.  viii.,)  " 
"and  from  fornication,"  (all  and  every  lawlessness  in  the 
sexual  relations  of  life,  1  Cor.  vi.  18 ;  Gal.  v.  19 ;  Eph.  v- 
3 ;  Col.  iii.  5 ;  1  Thess.  iv.  3,)  "and  from  things  strangled, 
and  from  blood,"  (Gen.  ix.  4;  Deut.  xii.  23.)  By  this  the 
communal  life  of  the  young  Gentile  churches  was  hedged 
in  with  a  barrier  of  laudable  caution  against  all  impure 
and  obscene  heathen  practices ;  while,  by  the  last  precept, 
a  tender  regard  also  was  shewn  to  their  Jewish  brethren. 
"  It  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  to  us,"  it  says  in 
the  body  of  the  synodal  letter,  "to  lay  upon  you  no 
greater  burden  than  these  necessary  things."  What !  Did 
not  Paul  protest  against  such  a  resolution  ?  Did  he  lend 
himself  to  imposing  upon  churches  of  his  gathering  and 
building  up  synodal  precepts  as  enacted  by  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  and  that,  too,  such  as  had  regard  to  mere  externals — 
to  "  meat"  and  drink?"  And  was  he  going  to  "subject" 
them  again  to  such  ''ordinances?"  (Col.  ii.  20-22.)  Yet 
Luke  has  not  omitted  expressly  to  mention  that  Paul,  upon 
his  next  visitation-journey  through  the  churches  of  Asia 
Minor,  delivered  them  the  "decrees"  for  "to  keep"  that 
were  ordained  of  the  apostles  and  elders  at  Jerusalem; 
yea,  and  he  adds,  what  now-a-days  may  sound  strange  and 
even  vexatious  to  some  people,  "  and  so  were  the  churches 
established  in  the  faith,  and  increased  in  number  daily," 
(Acts  xvi.  4,  5.)     Thus,  then,  Paul  must  have  deemed  the 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  197 

holy  synod  to  have  written  aright :  "It  seemed  good  to  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  to  ns ; "  and  he  held  thus  of  it  because 
he  found  in  the  synod's  decree  only  an  explanatory  copy 
of  one  and  the  same  law  of  love,  which  Christ  puts  in  the 
hearts  of  His  believing  people,  and  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
establishes  and  keeps  up  in  the  Church. 

Exactly  so,  as  here  at  the  synod  in  Jerusalem,  we  find 
Paul  minded  every^vhere.  With  all  diligence,  as  a  good 
ruler,  (Eom.  xii.  18,)  he  upheld  the  maintenance  of  unity 
in  the  Church  :  "  Endeavour  to  keep  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace,"  (Eph.  iv.  3.)  In  this  passage 
the  two  things  are  paired  together,  which  in  the  synodal 
decree  also  go  hand  in  hand :  unity  in  the  spirit  of  faith, 
preserved  by  the  Spirit  of  love  in  the  bond  of  peace. 
"There  is  one  body  and  one  Spirit,"  he  continues,  (Eph.  v. 
4-6),  ''  even  as  ye  are  called  in  one  hope  of  your  calling ; 
one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and  Father  of 
all,  who  is  above  all,  and  through  all,  and  in  you  all."  He 
wants  Christians  to  feel  themselves  as  one  integral  and 
indivisible  body,  even  as  the  Spirit  is  one  and  indivisible, 
who,  through  the  Gospel,  calls  and  gathers  all  in  one  hope 
of  the  same  calling.  One  Lord  is  the  Lord  of  them  all, 
and  therefore  the  faith  of  them  all  can  be  but  one ;  and 
one  baptism  admits  and  makes  them  all  His  own.  One 
God  and  Father  it  is  whom  all  His  children  in  Christ  caU 
"  Abba,  Father ! "  by  the  spirit  of  adoption.  He  is  God 
over  them  all  as  their  Creator,  through  them  all  as  their 
Preserver,  in  them  all  as  their  Guide  and  Director.  As 
Paul  thankfully  appeals  to  the  "  true  "  God  that  his  and 
his  fellow-labourers'  preaching  of  the  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
has  not  been  ''yea  and  nay,"  (2  Cor.  i.  18) — otherwise  the 
Church  of  the  living  God  were  not  the  "  pillar  and  ground 
of  the  truth,"  (1  Tim.  iiL  15,)  but  a  spurious  comiter  or 
a  weathercock — so  we  find  him  exhorting  his  congregations 


198  ST  PAUL. 

everywhere  to  be  of  one  mind  in  Christ,  (Eom.  xv.  5,  6  ; 
Phil.  ii.  2.)  He  saw  their  concord  in  sound  doctrine 
abeady  endangered,  if  they  did  not  hold  fast  "  the  form  of 
sound  words"  delivered  by  the  apostles,  (2  Tim.  1,  13.) 
''  Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  that  ye  all  speak  the  same  thing,  and  that 
there  be  no  divisions  among  you ;  but  that  ye  be  perfectly 
joined  together  in  the  same  mind  and  in  the  same  judg- 
ment,^' (1  Cor.  i.  10.)  But  oneness  in  faith  and  unity  in 
doctrine  have  to  be  supported  by  their  own  offspring, 
concord  and  love.  With  parental  fondness  the  Apostle 
paints  before  the  Corinthians  the  many-membered  body  of 
the  Church,  so  manifoldly-gifted  by  the  self-same  Spirit, 
(1  Cor.  xii.),  "  For  as  the  body  is  one,  and  hath  many 
members,  and  all  the  members  of  that  one  body,  being 
many,  are  one  body;  so  also  is  Christ.  For  by  one  Spirit 
are  we  all  baptized  into  one  body,  whether  w^e  be  Jews  or 
Gentiles,  whether  we  be  bond  or  free ;  and  have  been  all 
made  to  drink  into  one  Spirit.  For  the  body  is  not  one 
member,  but  many.  If  the  foot  shall  say.  Because  I  am  not 
the  hand,  I  am  not  of  the  body ;  is  it  therefore  not  of  the 
body  ?  And  if  the  ear  shall  say,  Because  I  am  not  the 
eye,  I  am  not  of  the  body;  is  it  therefore  not  of  the  body  ? 
If  the  whole  body  were  an  eye,  where  were  the  hearing  ? 
If  the  whole  were  hearing,  where  were  the  smelling  ? 
But  now  hath  God  set  the  members  every  one  of  them  in 
the  body,  as  it  hath  pleased  Him."  The  congregation  at 
Corinth,  and  each  individual  congregation,  is  to  consider 
itself  as  such  a  body,  the  manifold  members  of  which  need 
one  anotlier,  and  therefore  must  care  for  one  another. 
Yet  it  is  not  Paul's  meaning  that,  for  instance,  the  congre- 
gation at  Corinth  or  that  at  Eome  do  each  form  one  body 
w^ithout  any  organic  connexion  between  them.  Bidding 
grace  and  peace  unto   the  church  of  God  which   is  at 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  199 

Corintli,  he  adds  :  *'  To  them  that  are  sanctified  in  Christ 
Jesus,  called  to  be  saints,  with  all  that  in  every  place  call 
upon  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  both  theirs  and 
ours,"  (1  Cor.  i.  2;)  thus  deeming  every  place  his  own 
that  holds  any  of  them.  Likewise  he  writes  to  the  Eo- 
mans  :  "  As  we  have  many  members  in  one  body,  and  all 
members  have  not  the  same  office  :  so  we,  being  many,  are 
one  body  in  Christ,  and  every  one  members  one  of  another. 
Having  then  gifts,  differing  according  to  the  grace  that  is 
given  to  us,  whether  prophecy,  let  us  prophesy  according 
to  the  proportion  of  faith ;  or  ministry,  let  us  Avait  on  our 
ministering ;  or  he  that  teacheth,  on  teaching,"  (Eom.  xii. 
4-7.)  Yea,  so  studiously  did  the  man  who  had  upon  him 
"  the  care  of  all  the  churches  "  (2  Cor.  xi.  28)  foster  the 
spirit  of  true  catholicity,  that,  in  the  Corinthians'  "  minis- 
tration "  to  the  saints  at  Jerusalem  he  recognises  a  distri- 
bution '' unto  all"  (2  Cor.  ix.  13.)  Verily  Paul  was  no 
fanatic,  nor  a  "  Congregationalist,"  or  "  Independent."  In 
his  "we,  being  many,  are  one  body  in  Christ,"  he  includes 
all  who  belomr  and  hold  themselves  to  the  ''  little  flock  " 
gathered  around  the  Gospel,  and  ranged  under  the  banners 
of  Christ's  Cross,  whether  at  Eome,  or  Corinth,  from  Jeru- 
salem even  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Well  indeed  he 
knows  that  only  true  believers  are  "  one  body  in  Christ," 
of  whom  He  is  the  Head ;  yet  he  knows  nothing  of  a  body 
or  church  so  spiritual  and  invisible  that  he  might  be  un- 
able to  find  or  reach  them  with  his  apostolic  exhortation. 
Are  there  among  those,  of  whom  he  says  "  we,  being  many, 
are  one  body  in  Christ,"  some  or  many  who  do  not  believe 
in  their  heart  what  they  confess  with  their  mouth,  and  do 
not  therefore  cleave  to  the  invisible  Head,  while,  like 
Judas,  they  move  among  the  visible  members  of  the  body  ? 
Well,  in  them  the  spiritual  and  invisible  Church  is  not 
represented ;  though  they  are  in  the  Church  or  body,  they 


200  ST  PAUL. 

are  not  of  the  Church  or  body  of  Christ ;  they  are  the  rub- 
bish among  the  vessels  of  Christ — dead  members  among 
the  living — withered  branches  among  the  green.  Nor  does 
the  existence  of  such  "  vessels  unto  dishonour  "  subvert  the 
"pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth;"  for  the  foundation  of 
God  standeth  sure,  having  this  seal :  "  The  Lord  knoweth 
them  that  are  His,"  yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  for  ever, 
(Num.  xvi.  5 ;)  and  His  own  are  to  remain  steadfast  in  the 
doing  of  the  word  :  "  Let  every  one  that  nameth  the  name 
of  Christ  depart  from  iniquity,"  (2  Tim.  ii.  19-21.)  For 
where  persons  who  call  themselves  Christians  make  them- 
selves known  by  their  works  as  un-Christians  and  Anti- 
christians,  neither  will  be  checked  by  brotherly  discipline, 
there  Paul  commands :  "  Put  away  from  among  you  that 
wicked  person,"  (1  Cor.  v.  13.)  But  the  melancholy  fact, 
of  which  he  was  fully  aware,  that  in  this  life  "  there  are  (and 
always  will  be)  many  false  Christians  and  hypocrites,  yea, 
and  open  sinners  too,  among  the  true  believers,"  did  not  by 
any  means  determine  him  to  fix  the  Christian  Church, 
which  "properly  is  nothing  but  the  congregation  of  aU 
believers  and  saints,"  into  the  open  air  of  a  mere  idea, 
stripping  her  of  her  organic  palpability,  as  subsisting  in 
the  preached  and  confessed  Christ,  and  to  dream  of  an 
invisible  Church  beside  and  out  of  the  visible.  "  I  say 
to  every  man  that  is  among  you,"  he  writes  to  the 
Eoman  Church,  (Eom.  xii.  3;  cf.  1  Cor.  xii.  27:  "Now  ye 
are  the  body  of  Christ,  and  members  in  particular;") 
and  with  that  at  Eome  he  comprehends  into  one  all 
churches  of  Christ  in  all  places;  for  "so  we,"  he  says, 
"  being  many,  are  one  body  in  Christ."  A  glance  into  the 
church-building  and  church-ruling  activity  of  the  Apostle 
shews  plainly  enough  that  he  meant  the  picture  he  has 
drawn  in  1  Cor.  xii.  of  the  body  with  many  members,  as 
valid  for  the  collection  of  all  individual  congregations. 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  201 

From  the  very  first  (cf.,  for  instance,  Acts  xvi.  3)  we  find 
him  employed  to  connect  in  the  bond  of  peace  the  different 
new  congregations  springing  up  here  and  there,  and  by 
living  joints  to  strengthen  the  tender  bands  of  the  several 
individual  congregations  into  one  whole.  The  identical 
name  of  ''church,"  which  not  only  each  congregation, 
but  even  a  small  fraction  of  one,  (Eom.  xvi.  5 ;  1  Cor. 
xvi.  9,)  bears  together  with  the  collective  whole — ecclesia 
— already  clearly  points  to  this,  that,  according  to  apostolic 
doctrine  and  practice,  the  Christians  scattered  sectionally 
through  the  world  constitute  one  organic  whole,  the 
parts  of  which  grow  together,  and  stand  in  service- 
rendering  relation  to  one  another.  The  heavenly  organ- 
ism of  the  Church  consists  in  the  union  of  many  in 
one  Spirit  and  faith,  wrought  by  the  means  of  grace ;  but 
this  inward  union  manifests  itself  in  outward  signs,  and  is 
nourished  and  preserved  by  visible  means.  Paul  desires 
the  saints'  ''perfection,"  complete  restoration — Kafartisis, 
(2  Cor.  xiii.  9;)  and  this  he  sees  grow  out  of  their  close 
union  (1  Cor.  i.  10)  and  organic  edification,  (Eph.  iv.  12, 13,) 
as  one  community  or  congregation  of  the  Lord.  Unto  the 
giving  and  receiving  of  "spiritual"  and  "carnal"  things 
(Eom.  XV.  27)  the  several  Christians  and  Christian  congre- 
gations are  joined  together  in  love ;  for  God  is  love,  and 
His  Church  is  the  visible  embodiment  of  love,  (cf  1  John 
iv.  12.)  It  is  God's  will  that  the  several  members  of  the 
body  shall  need  one  another,  care  for  one  another,  and 
allow  themselves  to  be  cared  for  one  by  the  other ;  therefore 
He  has  manifoldly  distributed  the  manifold  gifts  of  the  one 
Spirit  among  the  several  members  of  the  undivided,  and 
every  division-resisting,  body,  and  points  them  mutually 
to  each  other's  edification.  Be  it  prophecy  or  ministry, 
teaching  or  exhortation ;  be  it  ruling  and  guiding,  or  the 
dispensing  of  bodily  benefits,  such  as  care  for  the  sick  and 


202  ST  PAUL. 

poor,  with  all  other  exercises  of  mercy,  (Eom.  xii.  6-8) — every 
gift  of  grace  is  given  to  each  for  the  whole ;  and  Paul,  the 
"ruler,"  best  shews  how  that  gift  (Kyhernesis,  art  of  steer- 
ing, 1  Cor.  xii.  28)  has  to  be  made  effective  in  serving  the 
whole  body  to  edification,  by  discerning  and  awakening, 
commissioning  and  installing,  watching  over  and  applying, 
the  manifold  gifts  to  the  general  good  of  the  Church,  ac- 
cording to  circumstances  of  place  and  time.  The  common 
gift  of  all  Christians,  Prayer — as  if  proceeding  from  the  one 
heart  in  the  body — Paul  stirs  continually  into  hearty  mo- 
tion and  vigorous  exercise  by  his  constant  exhortations  to 
Intercession.  As,  to  his  great  comfort,  he  knows  himself 
borne  up  by  the  prayers  of  the  Church,  (2  Cor.  i.  11 ;  Phil, 
i.  19 ;  Philemon  22,)  and  urgently  commends  himself  to 
them,  (Rom.  XV.  30;  Eph.  vi.  19;  Col.  iv.  3;  1  Thess.  v. 
15;)  so  he  seeks  to  increase  the  union  of  all  saints,  here  and' 
there,  by  exhorting  them  to  intercessions  and  thanksgiving 
for  each  other,  (Eph.  vi.  18,)  and  for  all  men,  (1  Tim.  ii.  1.) 
The  singing  of  God's  praise  by  all  brethren,  with  one  mind 
and  one  mouth,  (Rom.  xv.  6,)  was  to  him  the  holy  bloom  of 
church-life,  pregnant  with  much  fruit,  of  which  it  has  the 
promise.  The  uniform  Latin  tongue  kept  up  in  the  Romish 
Church,  although  lapsed  into  the  service  of  perversion,  is 
one  of  Claudius'  "  beacons  at  sea,  to  indicate  that  a  richly- 
laden  vessel  has  suffered  shipwreck  there."  In  all  respects 
the  "man  of  the  Church"  proved  himself  a  faithful  guardian 
and  diligent  fosterer  of  the  precious  organic  union  and 
communion  whereto  all  Christians  scattered  over  the  whole 
earth  are  called.  An  instance  of  his  fond  solicitude  in 
this  direction  we  have  seen  in  the  collection  he  gathered 
with  such  painstaking  diligence,  cementing  thereby  in  one 
bond  of  peaceful  union  the  saints  in  Judsea  and  those  of  his 
several  Gentile  conOTec^ations. 

Our  attention  has  already  been  drawn  to  that  memorable 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  ZVo 

passage  in  1  Cor.  xiv.,  (cf.  p.  160,)  wliere,  of  liis  directions  for 
decent  order  in  the  church  service,  the  Apostle  says  :  "  The 
things  that  I  write  nnto  you  are  the  commandments  of  the 
Lord,"  (1  Cor.  xiv.  37.)  By  this  we  are  not  to  understand 
as  though  the  several  precepts  he  there  gives  were  com- 
municated to  him  by  special  revelation,  (cf  1  Cor.  vii. 
12-25,)  but  rather  as  he  himself  explains  his  meaning  to 
this  effect :  "  For  God  is  not  the  author  of  confusion,  but 
of  peace."  As  "  all  churches  of  the  saints,"  so  the  one  at 
Corinth  has  to  shew  itself  as  a  congregation  of  the  God  of 
peace  and  order.  "  Let  all  things  be  done  decently  and  in 
order."  In  drawing  into  the  sphere  of  his  apostolical  manage- 
ment and  control  all  such  things  as  the  manner  of  Divine 
service  and  church  discipline,  (yea,  and  even  customs,  to 
the  very  wearing  of  woman's  hair,)  matrimonial  order,  and 
the  administration  of  the  poor-box — in  short,  all  that  is 
comprehended  under  the  term  of  ''church  order" — "So 
ordain  I  in  all  churches,"  (1  Cor.  vii.  17;)  "the  rest  will  I 
set  in  order  when  I  come,"  (1  Cor.  xi.  34) — and  claiming 
for  these  regulations  the  church's  obedience,  as  one  due  to 
the  Lord,  the  Apostle  is  far  from  putting  a  yoke  upon  the 
neck  of  the  disciples,  and  of  bringing  the  happily  freed 
Christian  souls  again  from  evangelical  liberty  under  legal 
restraints.  He  is  plain,  indeed,  where  church  order  and  dis- 
cipline is  concerned,  (1  Cor.  v.  11,)  and  can  boldly  write 
"  I  will  therefore,"  both  as  regards  matters  of  Christian  duty 
as  well  as  Christian  decency,  (1  Tim.  ii.  8,  &c. ;)  yea,  and 
"  command "  he  can,  "  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Clnist,  that  ye  withdraw  yourselves  from  every  brother 
that  walketh  disorderly,  and  not  after  the  traditions  which 
he  received  of  us,"  (2  Thess.  iii.  6  ;)  and,  "  but  if  any  man," 
he  can  peremptorily  say,  "  seem  to  be  contentious,  we  have 
no  such  custom,  neither  the  churches  of  God,"  (1  Cor.  xi. 
16.)     Yet  what  are  all  the  orders  according  to  which  he 


204  ST  PAUL. 

desires  the  Christian  Church  to  walk,  but  copies  and  pre- 
cepts of  edifying  love,  resulting  from  faith?  They  are  en- 
forced by  no  "  staff  of  the  driver,"  except  it  be  that  of  Him 
who  "driveth"*  God's  children;  and  their  love  is  not 
ignorant  of  it,  (cf.  1  Cor.  xiv.  38,)  but  understands  the 
Spirit's  voice.  And  because  church  precepts  do  but  regulate 
works  of  love,  they  are  not  immutable;  for  love  alters  her 
works  according  to  time  and  circumstances,  place  and  per- 
sons— "adapt  yourselves  to  the  time."-)*  But  Paul's  sense 
is  caught  as  little  as  Luther' s,|  if  their  names  are  made  use 
of  for  justifying  an  evangelical  liberty  which  wants  to  be 
free  from,  and  independent  of,  that  general  order  whereby 
the  one  body  is  served  and  edified  by  all  its  constituent 
parts.  The  "  Congregational  system,"  for  instance,  loses 
sight  of  this  important  point  in  not  viewing  the  Church  as 
one  organic  whole.  That  only  can  change  which  exists.  As 
the  living  human  body  constantly  changes  in  its  growth, 
yet  always  remains  the  same  human  body,  and  never  be- 
comes a  spectre  ;  exactly  so  does  the  changeableness  of 
church  order  not  consist  in  this,  that  possibly  there  might 
be  no  order  at  all,  but  in  its  changing  according  to  its  own 

*  Luther's  forcible  rendering  of  ayoa  in  Rom.  viii.  1 4, 
f  Luther's  translation  of  two  different  passages — Rom.  xii.  11,  and  Eph. 
V.  16.  In  the  former  he  must  have  followed  quite  another  reading  (than 
tS  Kvpico  8ov\€vovT€s,)  and  in  the  latter  have  been  swayed  by  the  context; 
for  the  English,  here  also,  is  decidedly  the  corrector  rendering  (of 
(  ^ayopa^ofxai.) — Tr. 

X  Luther,  for  instance,  in  speaking  of  the  Saxon-church-visitation-order, 
says :  "  From  which  common  order  to  deviate  creates  no  good  thoughts, 
and  eventually  even  disruption  and  devastation  of  the  Church.  AVe  should 
thank  God  that  our  churches  are  brought  a  little  into  uniform  order ;  and 
God  will  not  bless  them  who,  without  any  need,  only  for  their  own  ambi- 
tion and  pride,  break  in  upon  such  order  and  unity.  But  may  God  be 
our  help  and  strength  in  the  maintenance  of  a  true  faith  and  unfeigned 
love !  Amen."  Such  like  things,  therefore,  are  really  "  old,"  and  not  "  new 
Lutheran." 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  205 

inherent  law  :  "  Let  all  your  things  he  done  with  charity," 
(1  Cor.  xvi.  14;)  and  again,  "  Edify  one  another/'  (1  Thess. 
V.  11.) 

In  conclusion,  we  shall  take  a  view  of  the  three  (so- 
called)  "  pastoral  letters."  They  faithfully  reflect  the  pic- 
ture of  Paul,  as  a  clever  pilot  steering  the  vessel  of  Christ. 
Pastoral  letters  we  call  the  two  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  the 
one  to  Titus,  hecause  they  are  written  to  pastors,  and  mainly 
treat  of  how  they  ought  to  be,  and  how  they  ought  to  execute 
their  office.  They  might,  however,  as  properly  he  called 
letters  on  church  government ;  for  the  church  "ruler"  writes 
them  to  his  two  assistants,  {"  apostolical  vicars  "  they  have 
been  not  unaptly  called,)  that  they  might  know  how  to 
"set  in  order"  the  things  wanting,  as  he  had  appointed 
them,  (Tit.  i.  5.)  A  ''  superintendental  instruction  "  they 
contain,  (for  ''  superintendents "  of  Ephesus  and  Crete 
respectively  Timothy  and  Titus  have  also  been  styled,  by 
our  fathers,)  inasmuch  as  the  pastoral  and  other  instruc- 
tions therein  given  are  meant  to  serve  them  as  a  norm  for 
the  management  of  church  aJBfairs,  which,  for  instance,  is 
pointedly  expressed  in  injunctions  like  these  :  ''  Let  no 
widow  be  taken  into  the  number  under  threescore  years," 
(1  Tim.  V.  9),  and  "  let  the  elders  that  rule  well  be  counted 
worthy  of  double  honour;  (ib.  ver.  17.)  Now,  how  were 
Timothy  and  Titus  to  "  behave  themselves  in  the  house  of 
God?"  (1  Tim.  iii.  15.)  First,  and  chief,  stands  the  care 
in  keeping  incorrupt  the  only  true  doctrine,  and  watching 
over  it  that  it  be  so  kept.  Paul's  Eirst  Epistle  to  Timothy 
at  once  begins  by  mentioning  why  he  had  left  his  ^'  own 
son  in  the  faith"  at  Ephesus — viz.,  that  he  might  ''  charge 
some  that  they  teach  no  other  doctrine."  Strange  doctrine, 
or  rather  strange  teaching,  (heterodidaskaly,)  he  is  not  to 
suffer.  The  spirit  of  error  and  heresy  did  not  yet  venture, 
it  would  appear,  to  come  out  boldly  with  a  denial  of  the 


206  .  ST  PAUL. 

apostolic  doctrine;  but  some,  satiated  with  the  plain  Chris- 
tian food,  "gave  heed  to  fables  and  endless  genealogies," 
and  were  "  doting  about  questions  and  strifes  of  words." 
Against  these  Paul  binds  upon  Timothy's  conscience  the 
two  cardinal  articles  for  Christian  edification — faith  and 
love, — and  calls  to  his  mind  "  the  glorious  Gospel  of  the 
blessed  God,"  which  was  committed  to  his  trust.  "  This 
cliarge  I  commit  unto  thee,  son  Timothy,"  he  most  solemnly 
writes  him,  and  exhorts  the  watchman  over  the  house  of 
God  to  "war  a  good  warfare."  Prominent  among  all  his 
injunctions  regarding  the  Christian  life  in  the  Church 
stands  always  the  heeding  of  a  sound  faith  and  teaching,  as 
the  chief  charge  of  his  office,  (1  Tim.  vi.  12-14  ;)  and  at  the 
close  of  this  epistle  he  once  more  calls  out  to  him :  "0 
Timothy,  keep  that  which  is  committed  to  thy  trust, 
avoiding  profane  and  vain  babblings,  and  oppositions  of 
science  falsely  so  called,  which  some  professing  have  erred 
concerning  the  faith."  His  main  charge  upon  Titus,  like- 
wise, is  to  ordain  such  elders  and  bishops  *'in  every  city" 
as,  like  "faithful  stewards  of  God,"  shall  uphold  the  word 
of  "  sound  doctrine,"  and  contrariwise  to  "  stop  the  mouth" 
of  those  who  "for  filthy  lucre's  sake  teach  things  which 
they  ought  not,"  tickling  the  Cretans'  lie-accustomed  ears 
with  '^Jewish  fables  and  commandments  of  men."  As  a 
"  pattern  of  good  works  "  he  ought  always  to  shew  himself, 
but  withal  to  watch  over  "  uncorruptness  in  doctrine," 
(Tit.  ii.  7 ;)  the  sweetest  kernel  of  which  is  contained  in 
the  two  Christmas  epistles  (Tit.  ii.  11-14,  and  iii.  4-7) ;  to 
which  severally  the  Apostle  adds :  "  These  things  speak 
and  exhort,  and  rebuke  with  all  authority.  Let  no  man 
despise  thee ; "  "  This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and  these  things 
I  will  that  thou  affirm  constantly."  The  Second  Epistle  to 
Timothy  contains  Paul's  last  will  and  testament  to  his 
"  dearly  beloved  son.'*     Once  more  "  Paul  the  aged  "  lays 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  207 

his  blessing  hand  upon  him,  encouraging  his  sorrowful 
disciple  (2  Tim.  i.  4)  to  "  stir  up  the  gift  of  God,  which"  (he 
says)  ''  is  in  thee  by  the  putting  on  of  my  hands,"  (ib.  ver.  6 ;) 
and  here  also  his  main  exhortation  is  still,  "  Hold  fast  the 
form  of  sound  words,  which  thou  hast  heard  of  me,  in  faith 
and  love  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  That  good  thing  which 
was  committed  unto  thee  keep  by  the  Holy  Ghost  w^hich 
dwelleth  in  us,"  (ib.  ver.  13,  14.)  The  more  boldly  and 
shamelessly  the  Antichristian  spirits  are  throwing  off  their 
mask,  bent  on  committing  havoc  in  the  ''house  of  God," 
the  more  bravely  and  courageously  Timothy  is  to  put  on 
his  strength  in  Christ,  fully  confiding  in  the  Lord,  who  wiU 
give  him  understanding  rightly  (without  addition  or  omis- 
sion) to  divide  the  w^ord  of  truth,  and  to  "purge  himself" 
from  all  seducers,  who  are  growing  worse  and  worse.  "  But 
watch  thou  in  all  things,  endure  afflictions,  do  the  work  of 
an  evangelist,  make  full  proof  of  thy  ministry,"  (2  Tim.  iv. 
5.)  Grounded  upon  this  passage  in  particular,  some  have 
latterly  thought  the  offlce  of  an  "  evangelist "  to  be  virtu- 
ally the  same  with  the  "episcopate;"  so  that  Timothy, 
even  in  his  character  as  evangelist,  had  been  "  bishop  "  of 
Ephesus,  in  the  sense  of  ecclesiastical  rule,  which  it  can  be 
proved  has  been  attached  to  that  oflflcial  title  since  the 
second  century.*  Though  this  assumption  goes  too  great 
a  length,  ("evangelists"  are  all  preachers  of  the  Gospel 
among  the  heathen ;  for  instance  "Philip  the  evangelist," 
Acts  xxi.  8,)  yet  so  much  is  quite  plain,  that  Timothy  the 
"  evangelist"  was  to  fulfil  {i.e.,  fully  execute)  his  office,  not 
alone  by  preaching  the  Gospel,  teaching  and  exhorting,  (to 
which,  however,  he  certainly  was  to  give  continual  attend- 
ance, 1  Tim.  iv.  13 ;  2  Tim.  iv.  2 ; )  but  also  thereby,  that 
— as  the  apostle's  legate — he  exercised  the  same  ruling 

♦  Thus  Lechler:  Die  neutestamentliche  Lehre  vom  heiligen  Amte. — 
P.  220,  &c. 


208  ST  PAUL. 

and  administrative  functions  which  we  see  Paul  himself 
do  : — To  him,  as  well  as  Titus,  was  committed  the  care  to 
see  that  in  their  respective  dioceses  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  be  carried  on  by  truly  evangelical  men,  and  that 
their  congregations  be  edified  in  a  manner  becoming  the 
Gospel  of  Christ.  To  this  end  they  had  to  look  out  for  and 
choose  well-qualified  persons,  to  instruct,  to  examine,  and 
to  ordain  them  for  their  several  offices,  by  the  laying  on  of 
hands  (1  Tim.  iii.  1,  &c.,  v.  9,  &c.,  ver.  22 ;  2  Tim.  ii.  2 ;  Tit. 
i.  5,  &c.)  Over  the  deacons  and  elders,  (bishops,)  both 
them  that  preached  and  those  doing  other  evangelical  ser- 
vice in  the  Church,  they  had  the  superintendence,  to  uphold 
the  respect  of  their  office,  and  provide  for  their  main- 
tenance, (1  Tim.  V.  17-18;)  but  also  to  watch  over  their 
doctrine  and  conversation,  to  receive  accusations  against 
them,  yet  guardedly  and  upon  sufficient  proof  by  witnesses, 
and  to  administer  reproof  or  other  condign  correction, 
(jurisdiction;)  but  withal  having  the  utmost  care  to  "do 
nothing  by  partiality,"  (1  Tim.  v.  19-21,)  and  after  the 
rule  :  "  Eebuke  not  an  elder,  but  entreat  him  as  a  father; 
and  the  younger  men  as  brethren;  the  elder  women  as 
mothers;  the  younger  as  sisters,  with aU purity,"  (1  Tim.  v. 
1,  2.)  Finally,  the  entire  church  order  was  put  under  their 
supervision,  both  that  of  the  manner  of  Divine  service 
(1  Tim.  ii.)  and  the  discipline  of  the  congregations  in  doc- 
trine and  life,  (1  Tim.  vi.  1,  &c.;  Tit.  ii.  1,  &c.,  iii.  1,  &c.) 
To  sum  up  all — the  Apostle  has  drawn  in  these  epistles 
the  functions  of  a  careful  "  ruler,"  such  as  Luther  speaks 
of,  on  the  words  "  he  that  ruleth,  with  diligence,"  (Kom. 
xii.  8  :)  "  They  are  those  who  are  to  watch  over  aU  offices 
in  the  Church ;  that  the  teachers  wait  on  teaching,  and  be 
not  slothful,  likewise  the  ministers  on  ministering,  and  be 
not  dilatory,  but  do  rightly  dispense  the  treasure ;  punish 
and  excommunicate  sinners,  and  have  diligent  care  to  see 


THE  MAN  OF  THE  CHURCH.  209 

all  functions  faithfully  exercised.  Such  are  the  bishops' 
functions ;  wherefore  also  they  are  called  bishops  or  over- 
seers, and  '  antistites/  as  St  Paul  calls  them  here — i.e.,  pre- 
lates and  rulers." 

Verba  docent,  exempla  trahunt,  words  teach,  examples 
draw.  If  the  Apostle  has  not  taught  us  in  express  words 
that  the  Church  ought  at  all  times,  in  care  for  her  organic 
edification,  to  call  to  the  office  of  ruling  overseers  or  ad- 
ministrators such  men  as  the  Holy  Ghost  has  furnished 
with  that  gift,  such  at  least  must  be  our  conviction,  by 
the  example  he  has  drawn  for  us  in  Timothy  and  Titus. 

But,  above  all,  let  us  hold  firm  to  St  Paul's  divine  word 
and  doctrine,  that  it  may  rule  us  as  with  the  sceptre  of  the 
Lord!  TertuUian  beheld  in  Paul  "little  Benjamin,"  who 
rules  where  God  is  blest  for*  "the  fountain  of  Israel," 
(Ps.  Ixviii.  26,  27.)  Of  such  rule  there  will  be  no  end  ''  so 
long  as  the  gathering  around  this  fountain  lasts."  We 
have  ventured  to  extol  the  merits  of  this  prince  among 
God's  saints,  not  as  if  he  needed  "  letters  of  commendation," 
who  in  all  believers'  hearts  has  a  living  letter  of  honour 
"known  and  read  of  all  men,"  (2  Cor,  iii.  1-3;)  but  be- 
cause we  are  mindful  of  his  exhortation  :  "  Eemember  them 
which  have  the  rule  over  you,  who  have  spoken  unto  you 
the  word  of  God ;  whose  faith  follow,  considering  the  end 
of  their  conversation,"  (Heb.  xiii.  7.)  May  this  "  portrait" 
of  Paul,  and  his  example,  draw  us  to  the  obedience  of  the 
faith  he  once  taught,  is  stiU  teaching,  and  will  teach  to  the 
end !  Now  and  ever  may  the  imperishable  blessing  rest 
on  the  Church,  whereof  Chrysostom  spoke  fourteen  cen- 
turies back :  "  By  his  epistles  Paul  ever  lives  in  every 
man's  mouth  throughout  the  world.  Through  them  have 
been  blessed  not  only  the  heathen  congregations  that  were 

*  Luther's  translation  of  the  Hebrew  (Septuagint :  Ik  Trrjyaiv)  in  Ps.  Ixviii, 
26 ;  instead  of  the  English  correct  rendering:  "from  the  foundation." — Tb. 

0 


210  ST  PAUL. 

gathered  by  him,  but  all  believers  down  to  this  day  ;  yea 
and  will  be  blessed  all  saints  still  to  be  born  till  the  com- 
incr  of  the  Lord."     Amen. 


o 


Christ,  champion  of  Thy  Church,  that  war-worn  host 
Who  bear  Thy  cross,  haste,  help,  or  we  are  lost ! 
The  schemes  of  those  who  long  our  blood  have  sought 
Bring  Thou  to  nought. 

Do  Thou  Thyself  for  us  Thy  children  fight, 
Withstand  the  devil,  quell  his  rage  and  might; 
Whate'er  assails  Thy  members  left  below 
Do  Thou  o'erthrow. 

Raise  men  like  Paul,  both  in  our  Church  and  School ! 
Fill  all  with  grace  whom  Thou  dost  raise  to  rule ! 
Faith,  hope,  and  love,  0  Christ,  to  every  heart 
Do  Thou  impart ! 

So  shall  Thy  goodness  here  be  still  adored, 
Thou  guardian  of  Thy  "  little  flock,"  dear  Lord, 
And  heaven  and  earth  through  all  eternity 
Shall  worship  Thee. 


THE   END. 


BALLANTYNE   AND   COMPANY,    PRINTERS,    EDINBURGH. 


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A  PRACTICAL  COMMENTARY  ON  THE   GOSPEL 

OF  ST  MARK.  In  simple  and  familiar  language.  By  G.  B.,  Author  of 
"  A  Practical  Commentary  on  the  Gospel  of  St  Matthew,"  &c.  Crown 
Svo,  3s.  cloth. 

A  BRIEF  REVIEW  OF  TEN  YEARS'  MISSIONARY 

LABOUR  IN  INDIA.  Between  1852  and  1861.  Prepared  from  Local 
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the  London  Missionary  Society  in  Calcutta,  Author  of  "  Brief  Memoir  of 
the  Rev.  A.  P.  Lacroix,"  &c.     Post  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

CHINESE  SCENES  AND  PEOPLE.     With  Notices  of 

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parts  of  China.  By  Jane  R.  Edkins.  With  a  Narrative  of  a  Visit  to  Nan- 
kin, by  her  Husband,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Edkins,  B.A.,  of  the  London  Mis- 
sionary Society,  Pekin.     Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

THE  PRECIOUS  THINGS  OF  GOD.      By  Octavius 

WiNSLOW,  D.D.     Foolscap  Svo,  5s.  cloth. 
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gloom." — Ntws  of  the  Churches. 


A  SELECTION  FROM  THE  CATALOGUE  OF 


MEMOIR   OF   THE   REV.  J.  SHERMAN.     Including 

an  unfinished  Autobiography.     By  the  Rev.  Henry  Allon,  Islington. 
Post  8vo,  7s.  6d.  cloth. 
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SERMONS  BY  THE  LATE  REV.  JAMES  HARING- 

TON  EVANS.    Edited  by  His  "Widow.     Crown  Svo,  5s,  cloth. 
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MADAGASCAR  :  Its  Social  and  Religious  Progress.     By 

Mrs  Ellis.     Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 
"The  work  will  be  read  with  delight  by  multitudes."— ^n{is7i  Standard. 

FIFTY -TWO    SHORT    SERMONS    FOR    FAMILY 

READING.     By  Horatius  Bonar,  D.D.     Crown  Svo,  6s.  cloth. 
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THE  THREE  MARYS  — MARY  OF  MAGDALA, 

MARY    OF    BETHANY,    MARY   OF   NAZARETH.      By  the  Rev.   A. 
Moody  Stuart,  Minister  of  Free  St  Luke's,  Edinburgh.     Crown  Svo,  5s. 
cloth. 
"Replete  with  many  reflections  that  may  be  pondered  with  profit." — 
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SUBMISSION,  AND    ITS   REWARD  :    A  Memoir  of 

Alice  Johnston,  including  an  Account  of  the  Annan  Revival.     By  the 
Rev.  James  Gailey,  Annan.    With  a  Prefatory  Note  by  Professor  Martin, 
of  Aberdeen.     Crown  Svo,  5s.  cloth. 
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interest." — Evangelical  Witness. 

THE    DESERT    PATHWAY.      By  the  Rev.  William 

Robertson,  Hamilton.     Crown  Svo,  4s.  6d.  cloth. 
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ing and  pleasing  style,  and  convey  most  valuable  lessons." —  Witness. 

THE    DIVINE    HUMAN    IN    THE    SCRIPTURES. 

By  Professor  Tayler  Lewis.     Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 
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truth,  and  deeply  imbued  with  reverence  for  the  Holy  Word." — Homilist. 

THE   STANDARD   OF  THE  CROSS  AMONG  THE 

FLAGS   OF   THE   NATIONS :  A  Narrative  of  Christian  Effort  in  the 

Great  Exhibition.    By  V.  M.  S.    With  a  Preface  by  the  Author  of  "Haste 

to  the  Rescue."    Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

"As  a  memorial  of  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1S62,  were  it  on  no  higher 

grounds,  the  book  is  worth  a  place  on  the  shelvts  of  a  full  library.    The 

letters  are  full  of  interest,  and  many  of  the  facts  are  curious  and  striking." — 

British  and  Foreign  Evangelical  Reoitw. 


JAMES  NISBET  AND  CO. 


SMALL    SINS.      By   the   Rev.    Alexander   Balloch 

Grosart,  Kiuross.  Royal  32mo,  Second  Edition,  Is.  6d.  cloth. 
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gospel.  Mr  Grosart  is  by  nature  quaint  and  rich.  We  cordially  commend 
this  little  book  for  its  sesthetic,  as  well  as  its  deeper,  and,  in  the  best  sense, 
evangelical  worth." — Scotsman. 

FREEDOM     AND     SLAVERY    IN    THE    UNITED 

states  of  AMERICA.    By  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  B.  W.  Noel.     Crown 
8vo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 
"We  cordially  recommend  the  volume  to  all  who  are  interested  in  the 
gi*eat  questions  at  issue  in  the  Transatlantic  struggle." — Weekly  Review. 

FREEDOM    AND    HAPPINESS    IN    THE    TRUTH 

AND  WAYS  OF  CHRIST.     Sermons  by  the  Rev.  James  Stratten,  more 
than  Forty  Years  Minister  of  Paddingion  Chapel.    Post  8vo,  7s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  For  their  own  intrinsic  excellence,  as  well  as  for  their  monumental  value, 
these  sermons  will  be  prized  by  multitudes." — Patriot. 

OLD  FRIENDS  AND  WHAT  BECAME  OF  THEM. 

By  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Owen,  M.A.,  Incumbent  of  St  Jude's,  Chelsea.    Crown 
8vo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  Keen   observation,   and   singular  felicity  of  illustration,  render  these 
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THE  RISEN  REDEEMER.     The  Gospel  History,  from 

the  Resurrection  to  the  Day  of  Pentecost.     By  F.  W.  Krummacher,  D.D. 
Translated  by  J.  T.  Betts.     Post  8vo,  5s.  cloth. 
"The  new  work  by  the  warm-hearted,  imaginative,  and  earnest  divine, 
appears  trustworthy  of  his  well-earned  reputation." — Evangelical  Magazine. 

THE    SYMPATHY    OF    CHRIST   WITH   MAN:    Its 

Teaching  and  its  Consolation.     By  the  Rev.  Octavius  Winslow,  D.D. 

Fcap.  8vo,  5s.  cloth. 
"  Probably  no  work  has  proceeded  from  the  pen  of  Dr  Winslow  more 
adapted  to  impart  instruction,  cr  more  fitted  to  minister  consolation  amidst 
the  sorrows  of  life." — Morning  Advertiser. 

THE   CHRISTIAN   GOVERNESS :   A  Memoir  and  a 

Selection  from  the  Correspondence  of  Miss  Sarah  Bennet,  late  of  Melton 
Mowbray.  By  Geokge  B.  Bennet,  B.A.,  Curate  of  Fleet,  Lincolnshire. 
With  ail  Introduction  by  the  Rev.  R.  H.  Cobbold,  M.A.,  Rector  of 
Brosely,  Salop.  Crown  8vo,  6s.  cloth. 
"We  are  pleased  with  this  book,  which  may  well  be  placed  in  the  hands 
of  young  ladies." — Church  of  England  Magazine. 

NINE   MONTHS  IN  THE  UNITED   STATES  DUR- 
ING THE  CRISIS.     By  the  Rev.  George  Fisch,  Paris.    With  a  Preface 
by  the  Hon.  Arthdr  Kinnaird,  M.P.,  and  an  Introduction  by  the  Rev. 
William  Arthur.    Crown  8vo,  2s.  6d.  cloth. 
"We  commend  the  book,  as  containing  a  large  amount  of  interesting 

matter,  and  enforcing  views  which  are  of  a  sound  and  salutary  character." 

— Morning  Advertiser. 


A  SELECTION  FROM  THE  CATALOGUE  OF 


THE  CANON  OF  THE   HOLY  SCRIPTURES ;  from 

the  Double  Point  of  View  of  Science  and  of  Faith.  By  the  Rev.  L.  Gaus- 
SEN,  of  Geneva.    8vo,  10s.  6d.  cloth. 

"  We  set  a  very  high  value  on  this  noble  work.  The  learning  which  the 
book  evinces  is  ample,  varied,  and  mauy-sided." — British  and  Foreign  Evan- 
gelical Review. 

LOST,  BUT  NOT   FOR   EVER.     My  Personal  Narra- 

tive  of  Starvation  and  Providence  iu  the  Australian  Mountain  Regions. 
By  R.  W.  Vanderkiste,  late  London  City  Missionary.    Crown  8vo,  3s.  6d. 
cloth. 
"The  book  is  full  of  interesting  facts  ;  and  here  and  there  we  light  upon 
Bome  vivid  pictures." — London  Review. 

EVERY-DAY  RELIGION;    or,  Christian  Principle  in 

Daily  Practice.     By  the  Rev.  William  Landels,  Author  of  "True  Man- 
hood."    Crown  8vo,  4s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  It  demonstrates  how  widely  and  wonderfully  Christianity  touches  every 

sphere,  every  passion,  every  motive,  and  every  interest  of  human  life.     It  is 

earnest,  and  sometimes  rises  to  eloquence." — Patriot. 

TRUE  YOKE-FELLOWS  IN  THE  MISSION  FIELD. 

The  Life  and  Labours  of  the  Rev.  John  Anderson  and  the  Rev.  Robert 
Johnston,  traced  in  the  Rise  and  Development  of  the  Madras  Free  Chiirch 
Mission.     By  the  Rev.  John  Braidwood,  M.A.     Post  Svo,  7s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  We  earnestly  recommend  the  volume  of  Mr  Braidwood." — Witness. 

THE   LIFE    AND    LETTERS    OF   JOHN   ANGELL 

JAMES,  including  an  Unfinished  Autobiography.    Edited  by  R.  W.  Dale, 
M.  A.,  his  Colleauue  and  Successor.    Demy  Svo,  12s.  cloth;  also  a  Cheaper 
Edition,  post  Svo,  7s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  Mr  Dale  has  given  us  a  very  beautiful  biography." — Patriot. 

GOD'S  WAY  OF  PEACE.     By  Horatius  Bonar,  D.D. 

Four  Editions  of  this  valuable  work  can  now  be  had,  viz.,  a  Cheap 
Edition,  6d.  sewed,  and  9d.  cloth  limp.  In  ISmo,  a  New  Edition,  in  cloth 
antique.  Is.  6d.     Also  a  Large  Type  Edition,  crown  Svo,  2s.  cloth. 

"The  best  book  for  the  anxious  ever  written." — Rev.  Samuel  Garratt  in 
Revival  Truths. 

DISCUSSIONS    ON   THE    GOSPELS.     By  tlie  Rev. 

Alexander  Roberts,  M.A.,  St  John's  Wood,  Loudon.    Svo,  16s.  cloth. 

"  A  most  valuable  contribution  to  our  Biblical  literature.  ...  Mr  Roberts 
has  satisfied  the  requirements  of  the  most  exacting  critical  scholarship.  .  .  . 
Throughout  the  whole  of  his  book  he  has  handled  his  problems  in  the  most 
excellent  spirit."' — Max  Muller  in  The  Saturday  Review. 

THE  PHYSICIANS   DAUGHTERS ;   or,  The  Spring- 

time  of  Women.    Dedicated  to  the  Gentlewomen  of  England.      Post  Svo, 
7s.  6d.  cloth. 
"Regarded  as  a  simple,  pleasant  story,  with  an  excellent  and  religious 
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all  in  recommending  '  The  Physician's  Daughters.'" — Court  Journal. 


JAMES  NISBET  AND  CO. 


THE  GOLDEN  LADDER.      Stories  Illustrative  of  the 

Eight  Beatitudes.      By  the  Authors  of  "The  Wide,  Wide  World,"  &c. 
With  coloured  Plates.     Crowu  8vo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

THE   MARTYRS   OF   SPAIN  AND   THE   LIBERA- 

TORS  OF  HOLLAND.       Memoirs  of  the  Sisters  Dolores  and  Costanza 
Cazalla.    By  the  Author  of  "Tales  and  Sketches  of  Christian  Life,"  &c. 
Crown  8vo,  5s.  cloth. 
"  In  conception,  detail,  and  tone,  the  stories  are  far  superior  to  the  ordinary 

run  of  such  tales.     They  contain  passages  of  picturesque  and  forcible  writing. " 

— Athenceum. 

MANXLAND.     A  Tale.     With  an  Introductory  Sketch 

of  Manx  Home   Missions.      Woodcuts.      By  Miss  Bellanne  Stowell. 
Crown  8vo,  2s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  This  is  a  very  good  book  ;  one  which  may  be  read  with,  advantage  by  the 
multitude." — English  Churchman. 

MEMORIALS  OF  JOHN  BOWEN,  LL.D.,  late  Bishop 

of  Sierra  Leone.    Compiled  from  his  Letters  and  Journals  by  his  Sister. 

Post  8vo,  9s.  cloth. 
"  His  life  ought  to  be  read  far  and  wide.  "—CArisimn  Observer. 
"  A  faithful  picture  of  a  noble  and  good  man." — Daily  News. 

COAST  MISSIONS.      A  Memoir  of  the  Rev.  Thomas. 

Rosie.     By  the  Rev.  James  Dodds,  Duubar.    Crown  8vo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  We  cannot  too  earnestly  recommend  this  memoir  to  the  study  of  our 
readers,  and  especially  of  young  Christians," — Witness. 

CHINA    AND    ITS    PEOPLE.       A   Book    for   Young 

Readers.     By  a  Missionary's  Wipe.     16mo.     Woodcuts.     2s.  6d.  cloth. 
"We  cannot  conceive  a  more  intelligent  and  interesting  book  for  little 
readers,  or  more  likely  to  benefit  as  well  as  amuse  them." — Patriot. 
"  It  is  elegantly  written,  and  beautifully  illustrated." — Chris.  Witness. 

BRIEF   MEMORIALS  OF   THE   REV.   ALPHONSE 

FRANCOIS  LACROIX,  Missionary  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  in 

Calcutta.     By  his  Son-in-Law,  Rev.  Joseph  Mullens,  Missionary  of  the 

same  Society.     Crown  8vo,  5s.  cloth. 

"  Missionary  life  in  Bengal  has  never  been  more  truly  and  graphically 

described  than  m  Dr  Mullens'  deeply  interesting  memoir  of  his  reverend 

father-in-law.     It  is  a  thoroughly  honest  book." — Spectator. 

THE    OMNIPOTENCE     OF    LOVING  -  KINDNESS. 

Being  a  Narrative  of  the  Results  of  a  Lady's  Seven  Months'  Work  among 

the  Fallen  in  Glasgow.     Crown  8vo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  The  title  of  this  book  almost  claims  for  it  a  favourable  notice.     We  are 
glad,  however,  to  .'•ay  that  its  pages,  more  than  its  title,  deserve  this  at  our 
hands." — Scottish  Press. 

THE  NIGHT  LAMP.      A  Narrative  of  the  Means  by 

which  Spiritual  Darkness  was  dispelled  from  the  Deathbed  of  Agnes 
Maxwell  Macfarlane.     By  the  Rev.  John  Macfarlane,  LL.D.,  Author  of 
"Why  Weepest  Thou?"     A  New  and  Cheaper  Edition,  crown  8vo,  3s.  6d. 
cloth. 
"  We  do  not  wonder  at  its  popularity.   It  is  a  story  of  thrilling  interest,  told 
by  an  affectionate,  intelligent,  and  ardent  mind." — Journal  oj  Sacred  Litera- 
ture. 


6  A  SELECTION  FEOM  THE  CATALOGUE  OF 

THE    GOSPEL   ACCORDING   TO   MATTHEW   EX- 

PLAINED.      By  Joseph  Addison  Alexander,  D,D.,  Princeton.     Post 
8vo,  5s.  cloth. 
"  This  volume  is  the  last  work  on  which  this  accomplished  scholar  and 
divine  was  engaged,  and  which,  up  to  within  eight  days  of  his  death,  was  still 
receiving  additions  from  his  terse  and  vigorous  pen." — Witness. 

THE    HEART   AND    THE    MIND.       True  Words  on 

Training  and  Teaching.     By  Mrs  Hugh  A.  Kennedy.      Fcap.  8vo,  2s.  6d. 

"  This  is  not  an  ordinary  loose  performance,  but  a  very  solid,  well-digested, 
and  deeply  instructive  volume." — Christian  Witness. 

ANNALS    OF   THE    RESCUED.       By  the  Author  of 

"  Haste  to  the  Rescue  ;  or.  Work  wliile  it  is  Day."     "With  a  Preface  by 
the  Rev.  C.  E.  L.  Wightman.     Crown  8vo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

*'  This  is  a  deeply-interesting  volume.  It  is  a  book  of  similar  character  to 
'  English  Hearts  and  English  Hands,'  and  shows  what  may  be  effected  by 
well-directed  and  individual  efforts." — Watchman. 

DOCTRINE    AND   PRACTICE:   Lectures  preached  in 

Portnian  Chapel,  London.      By  Rev.  J.  W.  Reeve,  M.A.,  Minister  of  the 
Cliapel.     Crown  Svo,  5s.  cloth. 

"  These  interesting  and  scriptural  lectures  will  well  reward  perusal.  Tliey 
are  simple  and  direct.  We  thank  Mr  Reeve  for  his  truly  excellent  dis- 
courses."— C 


SCENES  OF  LIFE,  Historical  and  Biographical,  chiefly 

from  Old  Testament  Times  ;  or,  Chapters  for  Solitary  Hours,  and  for  the 
Sunday  at  Home.  By  the  Rev.  John  Baillie,  Author  of  "  Memoirs  of 
Hewitson."    Crown  Svo,  5s.  cloth. 

"The  topics  of  these  meditations  are  generally  well  chosen,  and  the  reflec- 
tions founded  upon  them  are  such  as  they  would  naturally  suggest  to  a  pious 
and  contemplative  mind." 

GRACE   ABOUNDING :     A  Narrative  of  Facts,  illus- 

trating  what  the  Revival  has  Done,  and  is  Doing.  With  Thoughts  on 
the  Christian  Ministry,  Lay- Action,  and  Individual  Resp  msibility.  By 
the  Rev.  John  Baillie,  Author  of  "  Memoirs  of  Hewitson."  Crown  Svo, 
2s.  6d.  cloth. 

"This  interesting  little  book  is  divided  into  twenty-two  chapters,  replete 
with  anecdotical  and  illustrative  matter.  We  commend  the  volume  most 
heartily  to  all  interested  in  the  great  revival  movement  at  present  agitating 
the  coimtry." — Scottish  Press. 

THE  PENITENT'S  PRAYER.     A  Practical  Exposition 

of  the  Fifty-first   Psalm.       By  the    Rev.   Thomas    Alexander,    M.A., 

Chelsea.  Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 
"Mr  Alexander  gives  us  a  literal  translation  of  his  own,  very  accurate, 
with  an  analysis  and  explanation,  in  whicli  some  pithy  tilings  are  drawn  from 
old  divines.  Of  the  exposition  itself  we  cannot  speak  too  hi.Lrhly.  It  is 
soundly  evangelical  and  deeply  impressive.  The  style  is  peculiarly  lucid  and 
terse;  every  sentence  contains  a  thought,  and  every  line  a  sentence." — The 
Patriot. 


JAMES  NISBET  AND  CO. 


THE    WANDERINGS     OF     THE    CHILDREN    OF 

ISRAEL.      By  the  late  Rev.  George  Wagner,  Author  of  "Sermous  on 
the  Book  of  Job."    Crown  8vo,  6s.  cloth. 

"  The  sermons  are  simple  and  plain,  but  very  full  of  instruction." — Record. 

THE  CHILD  OF  THE   KINGDOM.      By  the  Author 

of  "The  Way  Home."    Square  16mo,  Is.  stiff  paper  cover  ;  23.  6d.  cloth. 
•'A  remarkable  little  book  ;  so  remarkable,  indeed,  that  in  the  whole  range 
of  our  Cliristian  literature  for  the  young  we  know  of  nothing  to  equal  it." — 
British  Messenger. 

THE    BASUTOS  ;    or,    Twenty-three   Years   in    South 

Africa.      By  the  Rev.  E.  Casalis,  late  Missionary  Director  of  the  Paris 
Evangelical  Mission  House.     Post  8vo,  6s.  cloth. 
"  The  work  gives  us  a  capital  insight  into  the  life  of  a  powerful  African 
tribe." — Athenceum. 

MEMORIALS    OF   THE   REV.   JOSEPH  SORTAIN, 

B.A.,  of  Trinity  College,  Dublin.    By  his  Widow.    Post  Svo,  7s.  6d.  cloth. 

"  In  both  taste  and  feeling  the  book  is  a  most  favourable  specimen  of  reli- 
gions biography." — Christian  Remembrancer. 
"  This  is  a  charming  biography." — Record. 

MEMORIALS    OF    SERGEANT    WILLIAM     MAR- 

JOURAM,  Royal  Artillery.      Edited  by  Sergeant  William  White.     With 
a   Preface  by  the  Author  of  "  Memorials  of  Captain  Hedley  Vicars." 
Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth, 
"  These  memoirs  are  very  interesting.  .  .  .  It  is  edited  by  Sergeant  White, 

the   Preface  being  written  by  Miss  Marsh  with  her  usual  piety  and  good 

feeling. " — Christian  Observer. 

EVENINGS  WITH  JOHN  BUNYAN  ;  or,  The  Dream 

Interpreted.    By  James  Large.     Crown  Svo,  4s.  6d.  cloth. 

"  It  abounds  in  most  valuable  matter,  eminently  calculateii  to  instruct  and 
to  edify.  It  is  replete  with  interesting  facts  and  circumstances,  all  in  point, 
and  appropriate  citations  from  the  Word  of  God,  as  well  as  from  sacred 
poetry." — British  Standard. 

THE  BLACK  SHIP ;  and  other  Allegories  and  Parables. 

By  the  Author  of  "  Tales  and  Sketches  of  Christian  Life,"  &c.     16mo, 
2s.  6d.  cloth. 

"Tliis  is  a  curious  collection  of  multifarious  subjects,  all  of  a  character  to 
command  attention  and  to  repav  it.  Its  airy,  romantic  character  imparts  a 
charm  which  will  be  deeply  felt  by  young  people." — British  Standard. 

HELEN  DUNDAS ;  or.  The  Pastor's  Wife.     By  Zaida. 

With  a  Preface  by  tlie  Author  of  "Haste  to  the  Rescue."      Crown  Svo, 
2s.  6d.  cloth. 

"This  is  an  exceedingly  pretty,  well-written  tale.  Its  object,  mucli 
better  achieved  than  that  of  many  a  more  pretentious  volume,  is  to  exhibit 
the  pastor's  wife  as  a  true  'helpmeet'  to  her  husband." — Dublin  Christian 
Examiner. 


THE  GOSPEL  ACCOEDING  TO  MARK  EXPLAINED. 

By  Joseph  Addison  Alexander,  D.D.,  Princeton.    Post  8vo,  7s.  6d. 
"The  work  is  minute  and  full,  but  characterised  by  compression  of  matter 
and  conciseness  of  statement." — Wit7iess. 

HOME    LIGHT;  or,   The   Life   and   Letters    of  Maria 

Chowne,  Wife  of  the  Rev.  William  Marsh,  D.D.,  of  Beckenham.    By  her 

Son,  the  Rev.  W.  Tilson  Marsh,  M.A.  of  Oriel  College,  and  Incumbent  of 

St  Leonard's-on-Sea.     Crown  Svo,  5s.  cloth. 

"  Her  letters  are  the  best  reflections  of  a  cultivated  mind  and  loving  heart, 

as  well  as  of  the  genial  piety  which  diffused  its  fragrant  odour  over  all  her 

works.    We  heartily  recommend  it  to  the  notice  of  our  readers." — Record. 

ST  AUGUSTINE  :  A  Biographical  Memoir.    By  the  Rev. 

John   Baillie,  Author  of  "Memoir  of  Adelaide  Newton,"  &c.      Small 

crown  Svo,  5s.  cloth. 
' '  Mr  Baillie  has  been,  we  think,  very  successful  in  his  selection  of  incidents, 
in  the  dress  in  which  he  has  exhibited  them,  and  in  the  practical  application 
which  he  has  made  of  them.     The  book  is  very  pleasing,  and  very  edifying." 
— BHtish  and  Foreign  Evangelical  Review. 

LIFE  WORK ;  or,  The  Link  and  the  Rivet.    By  L.  N.  R., 

Author  of  "  The  Book  and  its  Story."    Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 
"Every  minister's  wife  should  have  a  copy  of  this  book,  as  the  best  guide 
she  can  have  in  doing  good  to  the  poor,  and  providmg  for  the  improvement  of 
the  neglected  and  the  outcast." — Wesleyan  Times. 

HYMNS    OF    FAITH   AND    HOPE.      By  Horatius 

BoNAR,  D.D.     Fcap.  Svo,  1st  and  2d  Series,  each  5s.  cloth.     Also,  a  32mo 
Edition  of  the  first  Series,  Is.  6d.  cloth. 
"  There  is  great  sweetness  both  of  sentiment  and  of  versification  in  many 
of  these  devotional  hymns." — Evangelical  Christendom. 

"  A  volume  of  hymns  which  glow  with  poetry  and  piety  combined.  Many 
of  them  have  found  their  way  to  many  circles,  and  are  greatly  appreciated." 
— London  Monthly  Review. 

THE  LAND  OF  THE  FORUM  AND  THE  VATICAN ; 

or.  Thoughts  and  Sketches  during  an  Easter  Pilgrimage  to  Rome.     By 

Newman  Hall,  LL.B.  Small  crown  Svo,  6s.  cloth. 
"This  book  will  be  read  with  much  interest  by  all,  and  will  amply  repay 
the  time  and  trouble  bestowed  on  it.  The  controversialist  will  find  in  it 
much  to  startle  and  amaze  his  practised  eye,  and  will,  moreover,  receive 
hints  not  entirely  useless  in  his  special  pursuits.  We  rise  from  its  perusal 
with  pleasure  and  profit." — Witness. 

THE    VOICE    OF    CHRISTIAN    LIFE    IN    MANY 

LANDS  AND  AGES :  Sketches  of  Hymns  and  Hymn-Writers.     By  the 

Author  of  "Sketches  of  Christian  Life,"  &c.     Small  crown  Svo,  5s.  cloth 

antique. 

"Hymnology  is  not  an  easy  subject  on  which  to  write  a  popular  book,  yet 

the  author  has  made  the  attempt,  and  succeeded.     Its  plan  is  partly  literary, 

partly  historical,  and  partly  biographical.  ...  We  can  heartily  recommend 

this  unpretending  book  to  those  who  have  an  interest  in  its  subject." — 

Guardian. 


JAMES  NISBET  AND  CO. 


HYMNS  OF  THE  CHURCH  MILITANT.     Compiled 

by  the  Authors  of  "The  Wide,  Wide  World,"  &c.    ISmo,  6s.  cloth  antique. 

"  It  contains  about  five  hundred  sacred  songs,  admirably  chosen  from  the 
writers  of  almost  every  age  and  country.  As  a  gift  book  to  a  Christian  friend 
we  can  hardly  imagine  anything  more  appropriate  than  this."  —  Baptist 
Magazine. 

OUR   HOMELESS    POOR,  AND   WHAT   WE   CAN 

DO  TO  HELP  THEM.  By  the  Author  of  "Helen  Lindsay."  Crown 
8vo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

"  Wlioever  wants  to  know  how  the  wanderers  about  London  are  now  ac- 
commodated with  food  and  lodging  for  the  night,  ought  at  once  to  procure 
this  remarkably  interesting  and  original  book." — Banner  of  Ulster. 

THE  MISSING  LINK ;  or,  Bible-Women  in  the  Homes 

of  the  London  Poor.  By  L.  N.  R.,  Author  of  "  The  Book  and  its  Story." 
Small  crown  8vo,  3s.  6d.  cloth.     Also,  a  Cheap  Edition,  Is.  6d.  cloth  limp. 

"This  book  treats  of  the  heathen  of  St  Giles's  instead  of  the  heathen  of 
Madagascar  and  Makalolo,  or  it  would  receive  a  wider  circulation,  and  create 
a  more  vivid  interest,  than  the  travels  even  of  an  EUis  and  a  Livingstone." — 
Daily  News. 

HASTE  TO  THE  RESCUE  ;  or,  Work  while  it  is  Day. 

By  Mrs  Charles  Wightman.  With  a  Preface  by  the  Author  of  "English 
Hearts  and  English  Hands."  Small  crown  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth.  Also,  a 
Cheap  Edition,  Is.  6d.  cloth  limp. 

"The  matter  of  Mrs  Wightman's  publication  is  most  interesting,  and  we 
wish  every  clergyman's  wife  would  carefully  peruse  it."— Church  of  England 
Magazine. 

ENGLISH  HEARTS  AND  ENGLISH  HANDS  ;  or, 

The  Railway  and  the  Trenches.  By  the  Author  of  "  Memori:ils  of  Cap- 
tain Hedley  Vicars."  Small  Svo,  5s,  cloth.  Also,  a  Cheap  Edition,  2s. 
cloth  limp. 

"We  recognise  an  honesty  of  purpose,  a  purity  of  heart,  and  a  warmth  of 
human  affection,  combined  with  a  religious  faith,  that  are  very  beautiful." — 
Tlraes. 

THE  TITLES    OF   JEHOVAH :  A  Series  of  Lectures 

Preached  in  Portman  Chapel,  Baker  Street,  during  Lent  1858 ;  to  which 
are  added.  Six  Lectures  on  the  Christian  Race,  Preached  during  Lent 
1857.     By  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Reeve,  M.A.     Small  crown  Svo,  5s.  cloth. 

"We  have  seldom  met  with  sermons  that  approach  more  nearly  to  our 
ideal  of  apostolic  preaching  than  these.  There  is  no  question  as  to  the  au- 
thor's foundation  or  superstructure." — Record. 

THE  THREE  WAKINGS,  with  Hymns  and  Songs.    By 

the  Author  of  "Tlie  Voice  of  Christian  Life  in  Song,"  "Tales  and  Sketches 
of  Christian  Life,"  &c.  &c.     Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

"  All  of  these  poems  mark  an  author  of  considerable  ability,  while  many  of 
them  are  full  of  great  beauty  and  feeling.     Indeed,  taken  as  a  whole,  the 
volume  will  bear  comparison  with  the  works  of  those  who  have  ac<iuired 
high  reputation  in  the  world  of  poetic  literature."— ,S'<  James's  Chronicle. 


10  A  SELECTION  FEOM  THE  CATALOGUE  OP 


SERMONS  ON   THE  BOOK    OF   JOB.     By  the  late 

Rev.  Geokge  Wagner,  Incumbent  of  St  Stephen's  Church,  Brighton. 

Crown  8vo,  5s.  cloth. 
"  There  is  no  attempt  at  subtle  logic,  or  rhetorical  eloquence,   or  learned 
criticism ;  but  there  is  what  is  better  than  either — a  plain  and  forcible  exhi- 
bition of  scripti-U-al  truth  brought  home  to  human  hciu-ts." — Evangelical  Chris- 
tendom. 

THE  BOOK  OF  PSALMS;  With  an  Exposition,  Evan- 

gelical,  Typical,  and  Prophetical,  of  the  Christian  Dispensation.     By  W. 
Wilson,  b.D.,  Vicar  of  Holy  Rood,  Southampton,  and  Canon   of  Win- 
chester.    Two  vols.  8vo,  16s.  cloth. 
"  These  volumes  contain  a  vast  fund  of  experimental  and  instructive  truth, 
and  will  well  repay  a  diUgeut  perusal." — Church  of  England  Magazine. 

EVENTIDE  :  A  Devotional  Diary  for  the  Close  of  Day. 

By  Mary  Ann  Kelty,  Author  of  "Visiting  my  Relatioris,"  "The  Real 

and  the  Beau  Ideal,"  &c.     Ciown  8vo,  5s.  cloth. 
"There  are  in  this  volume  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  readings  on  texts 
of  Script>n-e,  each  occupying  a  page.     The  remarks  are  sensible  as  well  as 
pious." — Cltrical  Journal. 

QUARLES'    EMBLEMS.     With  entirely  New  lUustra- 

tions,  drawn  by  Charles  Bennett,  and  Allegorical  Borders,  &c.,  by  W. 

Harry  Rogers.  Crown  4to,  handsomely  bound,  15s. ;  morocco,  31s.  6d. 
"Each  artist  has  done  his  task  well — the  borders,  which  are  Mr  Rogers' 
share,  are  in  almost  all  cases  exquisitely  fine  and  fanciful,  and  admirably 
drawn. " — A  thenceum. 

EXPOSITIONS  OF  THE  CARTOONS  OF  RAPHAEL. 

By  Richard  Henry  Smith,  Jud.  Illustrated  by  Photographs,  printed  by 
Messrs  Negretti  &  Zambra.  Svo,  8s.  6d.  cloth  elegant. 
"  The  handsome  book  now  before  us,  containing  a  photograph  of  each  of 
the  cartoons,  with  Mr  Smith's  very  thouglitful  and  tasteful  comments  upon 
them,  will  serve  to  perpetuate  and  to  improve  tiie  salutary  as  well  as  gratify- 
ing impressions  which  a  view  of  those- grand  paintings  must  create." — Uaili/ 
News. 

THE  ETERNAL  PURPOSE    OF    GOD   IN  CHRIST 

JESUS  OUR  LORD.  Being  the  Fourth  Series  of  Lectures  Preached  at 
the  Request  of  the  Edinburgh  Association  for  Promoting  the  Study  of 
Piophtcy.  By  the  Rev.  James  Kelly,  M.A.,  Author  of  "The  Apocalypse 
Interpreted  in  the  Light  of  the  Day  of  the  Lord,"  &c.  New  Edition. 
Crown  Svo,  4s.  cloth. 
"  It  is  one  of  the  freshest,  richest,  and  most  thoughtful  volumes  on  pro- 
phecy which  we  have  ever  read." — Journal  of  Prophecy. 

CHRIST  AND  HIS   CHURCH   IN   THE  BOOK  OF 

PSALMS.  By  the  Eev.  Andrew  A.  Bonar,  Author  of  "Memoirs  of 
M'Cheyne,"  "  Commentary  on  Leviticus,"  &c.  Demy  Svo,  10s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  Tliere  is  a  soundness  in  the  work,  because  the  writer  admits  a  historical 
and  literal  meaning,  as  adapted  for  general  usefulness,  while  he  responds  to 
the  voice  of  the  churches  in  all  ages  by  admitting  that  the  Holy  Spirit  in- 
tended to  teach  all  ages  by  the  Psalms.  The  work  is  a  discreet,  pious,  and 
learned  production,  far  above  many  similar  attempts  to  illustrate  these  de- 
vout compositions." — Clerical  Journal. 


JAMES  NISBET  AND  CO.  11 

A    MEMOIR    OF    THE    LATE    ROBERT    NESBIT, 

Missionary  of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland,  Bombay.     By  the  Rev.  J. 

Murray  Mitchell.     Crown  8vo,  6s.  cloth. 
"The  memoir  of  such  a  man  as  Robert  Nesbit  must  be  valuable  to  the 
Church,  and  we  are  glad  that  the  task  of  publishing  his  remains  was  under- 
taken by  a  kindred  spirit." — Record. 

MEMOIR  AND  LETTERS  OF  THE  LATE  THOMAS 

SEDDON,  Artist.     Edited  by  his  Brother.     Crown  8vo,  4s.  6d.  cloth. 

"  A  deeply  interesting  but  melancholy  memorial  of  a  noble-hearted  young 
painter,  who  had  singularly  distinguished  himself.  .  .  .  His  letters,  espe- 
cially those  to  Ids  wife,  are  very  charming,  full  of  freshness,  and  of  a  hope 
not  destined  to  be  realised." — Literary  Gazette. 

THE    STRUGGLES  OF  A  YOUNG   ARTIST  :  Being 

a  Memoir  of  David  C.  Gibson.    By  a  Brother  Artist.     Small  crown  8vo, 
3s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  The  artist's  biographer  has  done  justice  to  his  memory,  as,  with  a  pain- 
ter's sympathy  with  his  pursuits,  he  has  combined  a  Christian  brother's 
interest  in  his  spiritual  welfare  and  growth  in  grace.    The  book  is  most  ac- 
ceptable and  useful." — Scottish  Guardian. 

A  PRACTICAL  AND  EXEGETICAL  COMMENTARY 

ON  THE  EPISTLE  TO  TITUS.     By  the  Rev.  William  Graham,   D.D., 

LL.D.,  Author  of  "The  Spirit  of  Love,"  "The  Jordan  and  the  Rhine," 

&c.    Crown  Svo,  2s.  6d.  cloth. 

"The  Commentary  is  more  readable  than  works  of  the  same  nature.     It  is 

a  good  but  little  volume.     It  is  one  of  those  works,  neither  very  large  nor 

very  small,  that  readers  interested  in  this  class  of  literature  wiU  probably 

secure." — Tait's  Edinburgh  Magazine. 

SERMONS  ON  THE  PARABLES  OF  SCRIPTURE, 

Addressed  to  a  Village  Congregation.     By  the  Rev.  Arthur  Roberts, 
M.A.,  Rec-tor  of  Woodrising,  Author  of  "Village  Sermons,"  &c.     Crown 
Svo,  5s.  cloth. 
"An  excellent  volume  of  sound,  practical  instruction,  well  adapted  for 
family  reading." — British  and  Foreign  Evangelical  Review. 

THE  BROAD  ROAD  AND  NARROW  WAY :  A  Brief 

Memoir  of  Eliza  Ann  Harris.    By  the  Author  of  "The  Female  Jesuit." 

Fcap  Svo,  2s.  cloth. 
"We  would  recommend  every  mother  to  place  a  copy  in  the  hands  of  her 
daughter,  as  bearing  the  strongest  testimony  to  the  reality  of  religion,  and 
afifording  a  lovely  example  of  its  subduing,  elevating,  and  sanctifying  power 
over  heart  and  life." — Evangelical  Magazine. 

PATIENCE  IN  TRIBULATION :   A  Memorial  Sketch 

of  Jessie With  a  Recommendatory  Note  by  the  Rev.  Francis 

Gillies,  A.M.,  Minister  of  Free  St  Stephen's  Church,  Edinburgh.  Crown 
Svo,  2s.  6d.  cloth. 
"This  is  a  mother's  memorial  of  the  religious  experience  of  a  much  afflicted 
daughter,  called  to  her  rest  when  a  little  over  twenty  years  of  age.  An  in- 
troductory note  by  the  Rev.  Francis  Gillies,  of  Edinburgh,  the  pastor  of  the 
family,  corroborates  the  impression  of  high-toned  piety  which  we  derive  from 
this  parental  narrative." — Record. 


12  A  SELECTION  FROM  THE  CATALOGUE  OF 

SEED    FOR   SPRING   TIME.       Letters  to  My  Little 

Ones  concerning   their  Father  in  Heaven.      By  the  Rev.  W.  Landels, 
Author  of  "  Woman's  Sphere  and  Work."    16mo,  2s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  Tliis  handsome  little  book  is  designed  to  present  the  elements  of  theoloi^y 

in  a  shape  that  will  make  them  intelligible  and  interesting  to  children." — 

English  Presbyterian  Messenger. 

SUNSETS  ON  THE  HEBREW  MOUNTAINS.      By 

the  Rev.  J.  R.  Macduff,  D.D.    Eighth  Thousand.    Post  8vo,  6s.  6d.  cloth. 
"Mr  Macduff  has  rightly  appreciated  the  characters  he  has  described,  and 
has  truthfully  deluaeated  their  features." — Church  of  England  Magazine. 

THE  TESTIMONY  OF  CHRIST  TO  CHRISTIANITY. 

By  Peter  Bayne,  M.A.,  Author  of  "Christian  Life."      Post  8vo,  3s.  6d. 
cloth. 
"  An  original  and  valuable  work." — British  Standard. 

"We  commend  it  to  intelligent  Christians.     We  trust  it  will  obtain  a  very 
wide  circulation." — Aberdeen  Free  Press. 

HERBERT  PERCY ;  or,  From  Christmas  to  Easter.    By 

L.  A.  MoNCRXEFF.     16mo,  2s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  This  little  book  is  excellent  in  style,  in  tone,  and  in  moral.    The  story  is 
well  sustained,  the  conversations  natural  without  being  wearisome,  the  events 
striking  enough  to  awaken  interest  without  being  improbable." — Edinburgh 
Evening  Courant. 

THE  RESURRECTION  AND  THE  LIFE ;  or,  Lazarus 

Revived.     By  the  Rev.  James  Culross,  M.A.     Crown  8vo,  Is.  6d.  cloth. 
"  This  is  an  able  exposition  of  our  Lord's  most  interesting  miracles.      Mr 
Culri'ss  clothes  his  thoughts  with  much  force  and  beauty  of  language." — 
Patriot. 

THE    LIFE     OF    ARTHUR    VANDELEUR,    Major, 

Royal  Artillery.      By  the  Author  of  "  Memoi-ials  of  Captain   Hedley 

ViCiirs,"  "  English  Hearts  and  English  Hands."     Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth 

"  It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  beautiful  and  touching  story  .  .  . 

told  as  it  is  with  the  quiet  pathos  which  marked  the  narrative  of  the  life  of 

Captain  Hedley  Vicars."— J/orning'  Post. 

CIVILISING    MOUNTAIN    MEN;    or.    Sketches    of 

Mission  Work  among  the  Karens.     By  Mrs  Mason,  of  Burmah .    Crown 

Svo,  5s.  cloth, 
"lively,  fresh,  and  interesting,  Mrs  Mason's  book  wiU  be  found  specially 
suitable  for  the  young.  As  a  record  of  zeal  and  of  self-denying  labours 
crowned  with  signal  success,  and  of  the  rich  fruit  of  women's  work  among 
women,  grown-up  people  wiU  read  it  with  much  pleasure  and  much  profit." 
— Daily  Revieio. 

EARLY  DEATH  NOT  PREMATURE.    Being  a  Memoir 

of  Francis  L.    Mackenzie,  late  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.      With 

Notices  of  Henry  Mackenzie,  B.  A.     By  the  Rev.  Charles  Popham  Miles, 

M.A.,  M.D.,  F.L.S.,  Glasgow.     Fourth  Edition,  crown  Svo,  6s.  cloth. 

"  Young  Mackenzie's  life  of  two  years  furnishes  prolonged  illustration  of 

the  value  of  a  godly  '  upbring.'    With  him  the  rule  of  Scripture,  and  the  habit 

of  prayer,  were  associated  with  his  earliest  pastimes,  his  boyish  sports,  his 

school-life  and  work,  and  his  studies  at  college." — Quarterly  Messenger  of 

the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 


JAMES  NISBET  AND  CO.  13 


MENDIP    ANNALS  ;    or,  A  Journal   of  the  Charitable 

Labours  of  Hannah  and  Martha  More.      Edited  by  Arthur  Roberts, 
M.A.,  Rector  of  Woodrising,  Norfolk.     Crown  8vo,  4s.  6d.  cloth. 
"We  close  the  pages  of  this  diary  with  an  increased  respect  for  the  memory 
of  Miss  Hannah  More  and  her  sister." — Critic. 

WORKMEN  AND  THEIR  DIFFICULTIES.      By  the 

Author  of   "Ragged  Homes  and  How  to  Mend  Them."     Crown  8vo, 

3s.  6d.  cloth.    Also,  a  cheap  Edition,  Is.  cloth  limp. 
"This  is  a  book  that  we  could  wish  to  find  exclusively  circulated  among 
the  working  classes.     .    .    .     The  authoress  has  evidently  studied  her  subject 
carefully,  and  she  embodies  in  her  book  much  valuable  and  pregnant  infor- 
mation."— Scottish  Guardian. 

THE  GRAPES  OF  ESHCOL ;  or,  Gleanings  from  the 

Land  of  Promise.    By  the  Rev.  J.  R.  Macduff,  D.D.    Crown  8vo,  3s.  6d. 
cloth. 

"Mr  Macduff  has  certainly  produced  a  book  of  both  pleasing  and  profitable 
reading. " —  Witness. 

"The  subject  of  the  volume  is  the  rest  and  joy  of  heaven.  There  is 
nothing  to  exercise  thought,  but  much  to  awaken  feeling." — Evangelical 
Magazine. 

THE  ROMANCE  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY.      By  P. 

H.  GossE,  F.R.S.     With  Illustrations  by  Wolf.     Post  8vo,  1st  and  2d 

iSeries,  each  7s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  This  is  a  charming  book.     .     .     .     Every  lover  of  nature,  every  lover  of 
the  marvellous,  every  lover  of  the  beautiful,  every  soul  that  can  feel  the 
charm  of  true  poetry,  must  be  deeply  grateful  to  Mr  Gusse  for  an  intellectual 
treat  of  the  highest  order." — Daily  News. 

TRUE   MANHOOD  :    Its  Nature,  Foundation,  and  De- 

velopment.     A  Book  for  Young  Men.    By  the  Rev.  W.  Landels.     Crown 

8vo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

"  This  is  a  book  true  to  its  title.     It  contains  on  every  page  sentiments  of 

the  highest  value  for  the  proper  formation  of  manhood,  in  the  Gospel  sense 

of  the  term.      It  is  a  book  which  every  young  man  should  attentively  read, 

and  every  family  possess."'-iVori/iem  Warder. 

THE   UNSEEN.       By  William  Landels,  Minister  of 

Regent's  Park  Chapel.    Small  crown  8vo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  We  have  been  much  interested  in  this  series  of  Discourses  upon  the  Un- 
seen, as  an  able  and  vigorous,  a  full  and  impressive,  setting  forth  of  the 
leading  features  of  a  department  of  Divine  truth  too  much  overlooked." — 
British  and  Foreign  Evangelical  Review. 

THE    SONG    OF    SONGS  :    A  Practical  Exposition  of 

the  Sony-  of  Solomon.      With  a  Translation  after  the  Order  and  Idiom  of 

the   Hebrew,   and   other  additions.      By  the  Rev.  A.   Moody  Stuart, 

Minister  of  Free  St  Luke's,  Edinburgh.     Demy  8vo,  12s.  cloth. 

"In  the  very  difficult  part  of  exposition  which  Mr  Stuart  has  chosen,  he 

has  proved  emmently  successful.     .     .     .     He  has  produced  a  work  of  the 

highest  value — a  work  undoubtedly  and  by  far  the  best  for  general  use  which 

we  posscbs  on  this  part  of  the  inspired  volume." — Witness. 


14  SELECTION  FROM  CATALOGUE,  ETC. 

ABBEOKUTA  ;  or,  Sunrise  within  the  Tropics.  An  Out- 
line of  the  Origin  and  Progress  of  the  Yoruba  Mi&sion.  By  Miss  Tucker. 
Foolscap  8vo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

THE  SOUTHERN  CROSS  AND  THE  SOUTHERN 

CROWN;  or,  The  Gospel  in  New  Zealand.  By  Miss  Tucker.  Foolscap 
8vo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

THE    RAINBOW   IN   THE    NORTH.      A  Short  Ac- 

count  of  the  first  Establishment  of  Christianity  in  Rupert's  Land  by  the 
Church  Missionary  Society.  By  Miss  Tucker.  With  Illustrations.  Fool- 
scap, 3s.  6d.  cloth. 

A    MEMOIR   OF    THE  LIFE   AND   LABOURS   OF 

THE  REV.  A.  JUDSON,  D.D.  By  Francis  Wayland,  D.D.  Two  Vols. 
8vo,  12s.  cloth. 

THE   PUBLIC   SPEAKER,  AND   HOW  TO   MAKE 

ONE.     By  a  Cambridge  Man.     Crown  Svo,  2s.  6d.  cloth. 
"There  are  a  great  many  very  sensible  hints  in  this  little  book,  which 
young  men  may  study  with  advantage." — Church  of  Eng^land  Magazine. 

THROUGH   THE   TYROL   TO    VENICE.       By  Mrs 

Newman  Halt,.     Crown  Svo,  7s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  These  short  historical  sketches  convoy  a  great  deal  of  interesting  informa- 
tion ;  and  we  have  no  doubt,  from  its  engaging  style,  that  the  work  will  be 
appreciated  by  young  people,  for  whom  it  chiedy  appears  to  be  written."— 
Christian  Observer. 

THE    VISITOR'S   BOOK  OF  TEXTS  ;   or,  the  Word 

brought  nigh  to  the  Sick  and  Sorrowful.    By  the  Rev.  Andrew  A.  Bonar, 
Glasgow.     Fcap.  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 
"  Mr  Bonar,  like  the  Master,  has  the  tongue  of  the  learned  to  speak  a  word 
in  season  to  him  that  is  weary.      This  book  will  be  found  singularly  valuable 
in  the  sick  chamber." — London  Monthly  Record. 

THE  HIGHER  CHRISTIAN   LIFE.      By  Rev.  W.  E. 

BoARDMAN.  Edited,  with  a  Preface,  including  Notices  of  the  Revivals, 
by  the  Author  of  "  Memorials  of  Captain  Hedley  Vicars,"  and  "English 
Hearts  and  English  Hands."    Crown  Svo,  3s.  6d.  cloth. 

"  There  is  a  freshness  and  force  in  the  work  which  pleases  us  much 

The  Preface  extends  to  more  than  forty  pages,  and  contains  a  rapid  sketch, 
interspersed  with  facts,  of  the  gracious  revival  which  is  now  spreading  so 
auspiciously  through  the  chMvches."— Evangelical  Christendom, 

THE   SONG   OF   CHRIST'S    FLOCK  IN  THE 

TWENTY-THIRD  PSALM.     By  J.  Stoughton,  Author  of  "Lights  of  the 

World,"  "  Spiritual  Heroes,"  &c.     Crown  Svo,  5s.  cloth. 

' '  Mr  Stoughton's  volume  may  be  earnestly  nnd  warmly  recommended.  .  .  . 

Its  chaste  piety  will  make  it  deservedly  acceptable  to  a  large  class  of  readers. 

.  .  .  We  know  of  no  recent  volume  of  religious  meditation  which  is  likely  to 

be  more  profitably  read  or  pleasantly  remembered."— Dai^y  News. 


LONDON:  JAMES  NISBET  &  CO.,  21  BERBERS  STREET,  W. 


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